A newly developed polishing pad for achieving high surface flatness without edge roll off

Demand for diminishing edge roll off while polishing surfaces such as those of silicon wafers and glass disks has currently exceeded the capabilities of existing technologies. To address this problem, the influence of polishing pad properties on the stress distribution near the workpiece edge was investigated using finite element methods. Based on the results, double-layered polishing pads having an extra-fine fiber thin layer and a hard polymer layer were developed. Polishing experiments on silicon wafers and glass plates showed that the developed polishing pads achieved high finishing efficiency and improved surface flatness near the edge.