A slurry for polishing surfaces or substrates that at least partially comprise ruthenium and copper, wherein the slurry includes an alkali hydroxide, oxygenated halogen compound, and a halogen alkyl benzotriazole. The slurry may further include abrasive, acid(s), and, optionally, an alkoxylated alcohol. With these components, the slurry exhibits a high ruthenium to copper removal rate ratio.

Methods for the rapid detection of the presence or absence of mecA- and/or mecC-containing Staphylococcus aureus (mecA/mecC-MRSA) in a biological or non-biological sample are described. The methods can include performing an amplifying step, a hybridizing step, and a detecting step. Furthermore, primers, probes targeting the genes for mecA-MRSA and mecC-5 MRSA, along with kits are provided that are designed for the detection of mecA/mecC-MRSA.

Provided is a novel polishing composition. The polishing composition comprises a water-soluble polymer at least comprising a vinyl alcohol-based resin having a side-chain group of 3 carbon atoms or more.

The present invention relates to an abrasive and a planarization method using the same, and more particularly, includes fumed silica. A BET specific surface area of the fumed silica is 200 m.sup.2/g to 450 m.sup.2/g, a shape of aggregates dispersed in the abrasive has an elongated shape or a round shape, and a ratio of the round shape of the aggregates is 50% to 90%.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a CMP polishing liquid containing: abrasive grains; and a cationic polymer, in which the cationic polymer has a main chain containing a nitrogen atom and a carbon atom and a hydroxyl group bonded to the carbon atom. The CMP polishing liquid may further contain at least one cyclic compound selected from the group consisting of an amino group-containing aromatic compound and a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound. Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a polishing method including a step of polishing a material to be polished by using this CMP polishing liquid.

An object of the present invention is to provide a silica particle, a silica sol containing the silica particle, and a polishing composition containing the silica sol, which prevent secondary aggregation, have excellent dispersion stability, and are suitable for polishing. The present invention relates to a silica particle in which an average value of a circularity coefficient measured by a field-emission scanning electron microscope is 0.90 or more, and a standard deviation of the circularity coefficient is 0.05 or less.

To provide modified colloidal silica capable of improving the stability of the polishing speed with time when used as abrasive grains in a polishing composition for polishing a polishing object that contains a material to which charged modified colloidal silica easily adheres, such as a SiN wafer, and to provide a method for producing the modified colloidal silica. Modified colloidal silica, being obtained by modifying raw colloidal silica, wherein the raw colloidal silica has a number distribution ratio of 10% or less of microparticles having a particle size of 40% or less relative to a volume average particle size based on Heywood diameter (equivalent circle diameter) as determined by image analysis using a scanning electron microscope.

To provide modified colloidal silica capable of improving the stability of the polishing speed with time when used as abrasive grains in a polishing composition for polishing a polishing object that contains a material to which charged modified colloidal silica easily adheres, such as a SiN wafer, and to provide a method for producing the modified colloidal silica. Modified colloidal silica, being obtained by modifying raw colloidal silica, wherein the raw colloidal silica has a number distribution ratio of 10% or less of microparticles having a particle size of 40% or less relative to a volume average particle size based on Heywood diameter (equivalent circle diameter) as determined by image analysis using a scanning electron microscope.

Modified silanized colloidal silica particles are reaction products of silanized colloidal silica particles having epoxy moieties with a nitrogen of an amino group of an amino acid to form stable modified silanized colloidal silica particles. The modified silanized colloidal silica particles can be used as an abrasive in chemical mechanical polishing of various substrates.

A polishing composition that can not only achieve high polishing speed, but also can improve the surface smoothness (surface quality) of a polished substrate and reduce defects is provided. That is, provided is a polishing composition comprising silica particles and a water soluble polymer, wherein the contained silica particles satisfy the following requirements (a) to (c): (a) the primary particle diameter based on the specific surface area is 5 to 300 nm; (b) the coefficient of variation in the particle diameter is 10% or less; and (c) the Sears number Y is 10.0 to 12.0.