Disclosed is a substrate polishing method comprising placing a substrate into a substrate polishing apparatus, rotating each of the substrate and a polishing pad of the substrate polishing apparatus, allowing a bottom surface of the substrate to contact a top surface of the polishing pad, and determining whether the polishing pad would benefit from maintenance. The polishing pad includes a plurality of annular regions that are homocentric with a central point of the top surface of the polishing pad. The step of determining whether the polishing pad would benefit from maintenance includes ascertaining a state of the bottom surface of the substrate, and selecting one of the plurality of annular regions by using information about the state of the bottom surface of the substrate. The one of the plurality of annular regions would benefit from maintenance.

The present invention provides a unit that can sufficiently remove a residue containing inorganic oxide abrasive grains present on the surface of a polished object to be polished containing silicon oxide. One aspect of the present invention relates to a surface treatment method for reducing a residue containing inorganic oxide abrasive grains on a surface of a polished object to be polished containing silicon oxide using a composition for surface treatment, wherein the composition for surface treatment contains a zeta potential adjusting agent having an sp value of more than 9 and 11 or less and having a negatively charged functional group and a dispersing medium, and the surface treatment method includes negatively controlling a zeta potential of the silicon oxide and controlling a zeta potential of the inorganic oxide abrasive grains to −30 mV or less using the surface treatment composition.

The present invention provides a unit that can sufficiently remove a residue containing inorganic oxide abrasive grains present on the surface of a polished object to be polished containing silicon oxide. One aspect of the present invention relates to a surface treatment method for reducing a residue containing inorganic oxide abrasive grains on a surface of a polished object to be polished containing silicon oxide using a composition for surface treatment, wherein the composition for surface treatment contains a zeta potential adjusting agent having an sp value of more than 9 and 11 or less and having a negatively charged functional group and a dispersing medium, and the surface treatment method includes negatively controlling a zeta potential of the silicon oxide and controlling a zeta potential of the inorganic oxide abrasive grains to −30 mV or less using the surface treatment composition.

An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing includes a platen having a surface to support a polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a substrate against a polishing surface of the polishing pad, a pad conditioner to hold a conditioning disk against the polishing surface, an in-situ polishing pad thickness monitoring system, and a controller. The controller is configured to store data associating each of a plurality of conditioner disk products with a respective threshold value, receive an input selecting a conditioner disk product from the plurality of conditioner disk products, determine a particular threshold value associated with the selected conditioner disk product, receive a signal from the monitoring system, generate a measure of a pad cut rate from the signal, and generate an alert if the pad cut rate falls beyond the particular threshold value.

An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing includes a platen having a surface to support a polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a substrate against a polishing surface of the polishing pad, a pad conditioner to hold a conditioning disk against the polishing surface, an in-situ polishing pad thickness monitoring system, and a controller. The controller is configured to store data associating each of a plurality of conditioner disk products with a respective threshold value, receive an input selecting a conditioner disk product from the plurality of conditioner disk products, determine a particular threshold value associated with the selected conditioner disk product, receive a signal from the monitoring system, generate a measure of a pad cut rate from the signal, and generate an alert if the pad cut rate falls beyond the particular threshold value.

A method includes receiving a metal component including a raw surface that includes a metal base, a first native oxide disposed on the metal base, and hydrocarbons disposed on the metal base. The method further includes machining the raw surface of the metal component to remove the first native oxide and a first portion of the hydrocarbons from the metal base. The machining generates an as-machined surface of the metal component including the metal base without the first native oxide and without the first portion of the hydrocarbons. The method further includes performing a surface machining of the as-machined surface of the metal component to remove a second portion of the hydrocarbons. The method further includes surface treating the metal component to remove a third portion of the hydrocarbons. The method further includes performing a cleaning of the metal component and drying the metal component.

A barrier chemical mechanical planarization polishing composition is provided that includes suitable chemical additives. The suitable chemical additives are silicate compound and high molecular weight polymers/copolymers. There is also provided a chemical mechanical polishing method using the barrier chemical mechanical planarization polishing composition.

Provided is a polishing method that can efficiently achieve a surface of a super-hard material from which latent defects are precisely eliminated. The polishing method provided by the present invention is used for polishing a substrate made of a material having a Vickers hardness of 1500 Hv or higher. The polishing method includes: a step of carrying out preliminary polishing on the substrate using a preliminary polishing composition; and a step of carrying out final polishing on the preliminarily polished substrate using a final polishing composition. Here, a surface roughness Ra.sub.PRE of the preliminarily polished substrate measured by an AFM is 0.1 nm or less, and a polishing removal in the final polishing step is 0.3 .Math.m or more.

A polishing pad comprising a knitted fabric constituted by warp knitting or weft knitting, and a resin with which the knitted fabric is impregnated, and having a cross section cut in a surface direction of the knitted fabric, as a polishing surface.

A fixed abrasive three-dimensional plate includes micron size diamond beads or a mixture of abrasive particles and metal oxide beads, ranging in size from a few microns to a few tens of microns, incorporated into a matrix of one or more inorganic binders and fillers. The composition is formed into a rigid plate blank, and the abrasive plate is mounted on a substrate forming a lapping/polishing plate. The abrasive plate is capable of delivering high material removal rates coupled with reduced surface roughness when lapping/polishing advanced materials, including sapphire, titanium carbide reinforced alumina, silicon carbide, gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, zinc selenide, and other compound semiconductor materials, as well as, glass, ceramic, metallic, and composite workpieces. The diamond beads incorporated in the fixed abrasive three-dimensional plate include diamond particles ranging in size from a few nanometers to a few tens of microns, bonded with one or more inorganic binders and additives.