Polishing pad having micro-grooves on the pad surface
A polishing pad is provided herein, which may include a plurality of soluble fibers having a diameter in the range of about 5 to 80 micrometers, and an insoluble component. The pad may also pad include a first surface having a plurality of micro-grooves, wherein the soluble fibers form the micro-grooves in the pad. The micro-grooves may have a width and/or depth up to about 150 micrometers. In addition, a method of forming the polishing pad and a method of polishing a surface with the polishing pad is disclosed.
1. A method of providing a polishing pad for use with polishing slurry, comprising:
providing a mold having a first half and a second half and a recess defined in said first half;
providing a non-woven fabric and an insoluble component into said recess, said non-woven fabric comprising a plurality of soluble fibers having a diameter in the range of about 5 to 80 micrometers, said soluble fibers comprising one or more of nonwoven fibrous and fabric structures, and woven and knitted fibrous and fabric structures;
closing said mold and applying heat and pressure to said plurality of soluble fibers and said insoluble component over a given period of time; and
forming a pad having a thickness and a first surface having a plurality of interconnected self-generating micro-grooves, said micro-grooves having a width and/or depth up to about 150 micrometers;
wherein:
said soluble fibers are positioned through at least a portion of the thickness of the pad to continuously dissolve and form said microgrooves in a newly exposed surface of said pad by exposure to said slurry;
said micro-grooves are arranged in an array of longitudinal indentations in said first surface of said pad and retain and distribute said polishing slurry; and
said micro-grooves are arranged in one of a crisscross, circular, spiral, radial, or centripetal array.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said insoluble component includes a mixture of a prepolymer and a curing agent, and providing said insoluble component comprises dispensing said mixture onto said non-woven fabric.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said insoluble component includes insoluble fibers.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said soluble fiber has a first melting temperature Tm 1 and said insoluble fibers have a second melting temperature Tm 2 , wherein Tm 1 >Tm 2 .
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein said insoluble fiber is a binder fiber.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein said insoluble fiber is a bi-component fiber consisting of a first component having a first melting temperature Tc 1 and a second component having a second melting temperature Tc 2 , wherein Tc 1 <Tc 2 .
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising annealing said pad.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing a layer in the range of 2 to 20 thousandths of an inch from at least a portion of a surface of said pad.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising laminating an adhesive to a portion of a surface of said pad.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the insoluble component comprises an insoluble polymer resin and an insoluble fiber.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein said micro-grooves in said pad having a width and/or depth in the range of 5-150 micrometers.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said soluble fibers are positioned through the entire thickness of the pad.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said grooves are separated by an average distance ranging from 10 to 2000 micrometers.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said insoluble component comprises a polymer component.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the weight percent of said soluble fibers in said polishing pad is about 10-90% and the weight percent of said insoluble component in said pad is about 90-10%.