METHOD OF POLISHING USING CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING PAD

1 . A method comprising

providing a substrate to be planarized,

providing a chemical mechanical polishing pad and polishing solution, the polishing pad having a polishing layer comprising a polyurethane and 1 to 20 wt % based on total weight of the polishing layer of non-reactive, non-expandable polymeric particles dispersed in the polyurethane and less than 2 wt % expandable polymeric microspheres, conditioning the polishing layer to form a conditioned polishing layer,

stopping the conditioning,

polishing the substrate with the polishing solution and the pad having the conditioned polishing layer,

stopping the polishing,

reconditioning the polishing layer to form a reconditioned polishing layer, stopping the reconditioning, and,

after stopping the reconditioning, initiating additional polishing on the substrate or a second substrate.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the polishing comprises planarization.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the non-reactive, non-expandable polymeric particles comprise cross-linked polymethylmethacrylate.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the non-reactive, non-expandable polymeric particles have an average particle size D50 particle size of 5 to 15 microns.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the polyurethane comprises the reaction product an isocyanate terminated prepolymer and an amine curative wherein the isocyanate terminated prepolymer comprises a reaction product of a polyol prepolymer, toluene diisocyanate, a low molecular weight polyol wherein the reaction product is further reacted with an amine curative.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the isocyanate prepolymer comprises a blend of a first reaction product of a polypropylene glycol, toluene diisocyanate and the low molecular weight polyol and a second reaction product of a polytetramethylene glycol, toluene diisocyanate and the low molecular weight polyol, wherein the first reaction product and the second reaction product are present in a weight ratio of 1:20 to 1:1.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the polishing pad has a density of at least 1.1 grams per cubic centimeter.

8 . The method of claim 1 further including machining grooves on the surface of the polishing layer before the conditioning.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the non-reactive, non-expandable polymeric particles are porous.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dishing is less than 200 angstroms for feature size of 500 micron width land and 500 micron width trenches and the number of chattermarks detected on the substrate is less than 90 for polishing pressures of 170 hectopascals.