Process for polishing a semiconductor device substrate

摘要

A polishing pad (34) with a poromeric structure polishes two dissimilar materials (56, 58). By using a relatively softer pad. and conditioning, relatively constant times can be used for polishing the dissimilar materials (56, 58). This makes polishing more predictable and increases the number of substrates that can be polished using a single polishing pad (34). Polishing pads (34) are typically changed when other maintenance is performed on the polisher rather than when the polishing rate becomes too low.