Soft and conditionable chemical mechanical polishing pad with window

1. A chemical mechanical polishing pad, comprising:

a polishing layer having a polishing surface, a base surface and an average thickness, T P-avg , measured in a direction perpendicular to the polishing surface from the polishing surface to the base surface; and,

an endpoint detection window incorporated into the polishing layer;

wherein the polishing layer comprises a reaction product of ingredients, comprising:

a polishing layer prepolymer, wherein the polishing layer prepolymer is selected from the group consisting of isocyanate terminated urethane prepolymers having 2 to 12 wt % unreacted NCO groups; and,

a polishing layer curative system, comprising:

at least 5 wt % of a polishing layer amine initiated polyol curative having at least one nitrogen atom per molecule and an average of at least three hydroxyl groups per molecule;

25 to 95 wt % of a polishing layer high molecular weight polyol curative having a number average molecular weight, M N , of 2,500 to 100,000 and an average of three to ten hydroxyl groups per molecule; and,

0 to 70 wt % of a polishing layer difunctional curative;

wherein the endpoint detection window comprises a reaction product of ingredients, comprising:

a window prepolymer, wherein the window prepolymer is selected from the group consisting of isocyanate terminated urethane prepolymers having 2 to 6.5 wt % unreacted NCO groups; and,

a window curative system, comprising:

at least 5 wt % of a window difunctional curative;

at least 5 wt % of a window amine initiated polyol curative having at least one nitrogen atom per molecule and an average of at least three hydroxyl groups per molecule; and,

25 to 90 wt % of a window high molecular weight polyol curative having a number average molecular weight, M N , of 2,000 to 100,000 and an average of three to ten hydroxyl groups per molecule;

wherein the polishing layer exhibits a density of ≧0.6 g/cm 3 ; a Shore D hardness of 5 to 40; an elongation to break of 100 to 450%; and, a cut rate of 25 to 150 μm/hr.

2. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 1 , wherein the polishing surface is adapted for polishing a substrate selected from a magnetic substrate, an optical substrate and a semiconductor substrate.

3. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 1 , further comprising:

a rigid layer having a top surface and a bottom surface; and,

a hot melt adhesive interposed between the base surface of the polishing layer and the top surface of the rigid layer; wherein the hot melt adhesive bonds the polishing layer to the rigid layer.

4. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 3 , further comprising:

a pressure sensitive platen adhesive; wherein the pressure sensitive platen adhesive is disposed on the bottom surface of the rigid; and,

a release liner; wherein the pressure sensitive platen adhesive is interposed between the bottom surface of the rigid layer and the release liner.

5. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 1 , wherein the window curative system has a reactive hydrogen moiety concentration and the window prepolymer has an unreacted NCO moiety concentration; and, wherein the reactive hydrogen moiety concentration divided by the unreacted NCO moiety concentration is 0.7 to 1.2.

6. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 1 , wherein the endpoint detection window exhibits a density of ≧1 g/cm 3 ; a porosity of less than 0.1 vol %; a Shore D hardness of 10 to 50; an elongation to break of ≦400%; and, a double pass transmission at 800 nm, DPT 800 , of 30 to 100%.

7. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 6 , wherein the endpoint detection window also exhibits a double pass transmission at 400 nm, DPT 400 , of 25 to 100%.

8. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 1 ,

wherein the polishing layer curative system contains:

5 to 20 wt % of the polishing layer amine initiated polyol curative, wherein the polishing layer amine initiated polyol curative has two nitrogen atom per molecule, an average of four hydroxyl groups per molecule, and a number average molecular weight, M N , of 200 to 400;

50 to 75 wt % of the polishing layer high molecular weight polyol curative, wherein the polishing layer high molecular weight polyol curative has a number average molecular weight, M N , of 10,000 to 12,000; and an average of six hydroxyl groups per molecule;

10 to 30 wt % of the polishing layer difunctional curative; wherein the polishing layer difunctional curative is a diamine curative selected from the group consisting of 4,4′-methylene-bis-(2-chloroaniline) (MBOCA);

4,4′-methylene-bis-(3-chloro-2,6-diethylaniline) (MCDEA); and, isomers thereof;

wherein the polishing layer curative system has a plurality of reactive hydrogen moieties and the polishing layer prepolymer has a plurality of unreacted NCO moieties;

wherein the molar ratio of the reactive hydrogen moieties in the polishing layer curative system to unreacted isocyanate moieties in the polishing layer prepolymer is 0.95 to 1.05; and,

wherein the polishing layer exhibits a density of 0.75 to 1.0 g/cm 3 ; a Shore D hardness of 5 to 20; an elongation to break of 150 and 300%; and, a cut rate of 30 to 60 μm/hr.

9. The chemical mechanical polishing pad of claim 8 , wherein the polishing layer prepolymer is selected from isocyanate terminated urethane prepolymers having 5 to 7 wt % unreacted NCO groups and exhibiting a number average molecular weight, M N , of 400 to 2,500.

10. A method of polishing a substrate, comprising:

providing a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus having a platen, a light source and a photosensor;

providing at least one substrate;

providing a chemical mechanical polishing pad according to claim 1 ;

installing onto the platen the chemical mechanical polishing pad;

optionally, providing a polishing medium at an interface between the polishing surface and the substrate;

creating dynamic contact between the polishing surface and the substrate, wherein at least some material is removed from the substrate; and,

determining a polishing endpoint by transmitting light from the light source through the endpoint detection window and analyzing the light reflected off the surface of the substrate back through the endpoint detection window incident upon the photosensor.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one substrate is selected from the group consisting of at least one of a magnetic substrate, an optical substrate and a semiconductor substrate.