Claims
- 1. A method for conditioning a polishing pad comprising the steps of; pressing a conditioning surface of a conditioning pad comprising a first polymer against a polishing surface of the polishing pad comprising a second polymer, and producing relative motion between the pads such that measured characteristics of the polishing surface are changed.
- 2. The method of claim 1 in which the first polymer and the second polymer are polyurethanes.
- 3. The method of claim 1 in which the hardness of the conditioning surface is greater than or equal to the hardness of the polishing surface.
- 4. The method of claim 1 in which the conditioning pad comprises a urethane impregnated polyester felt.
- 5. The method of claim 1 in which the first polymer and the second polymer are each polymers selected from the group consisting: acrylated urethanes; acrylated epoxys; ethylenically unsaturated organic compounds having a carboxyl, benzyl, or amide functionality; aminoplast derivatives having a pendant unsaturated carbonyl group; isocyanurate derivatives having at least one pendant acrylate group; vinyl ethers; urethanes; polyacrylamides; ethylene/ester copolymers or acid derivatives thereof; polyvinyl alcohols; polymethyl methacrylates; polysulfones; polyamides; polycarbonates; polyvinyl chloride; epoxys; copolymers of the above; or combinations thereof; and in which the first polymer and the second polymer are each present as a continuous matrix.
- 6. The method of claim 5 in which the hardness of the conditioning surface is greater than or equal to the hardness of the polishing surface.
- 7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein, the conditioning pad comprises a poromeric material comprising a porous thermoplastic matrix reinforced with a fiber network, the matrix being coalesced among the fibers to increase the porosity and hardness of the material, and wherein the matrix comprises a blend of at least two polymers, one of the polymers having a melting point higher than the other, whereby the higher melting point polymer is not substantially coalesced.
- 8. The method of claim 1 wherein, the polishing pad comprises a urethane polymer and the conditioning pad comprises a urethane polymer.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of provisional application 60/237,464 filed Oct. 2, 2000.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60237464 |
Oct 2000 |
US |