Study on the Development of Resource-Saving High Performance Slurry - Polishing/CMP for Glass Substrates in a Radical Polishing Environment, Using Manganese Oxide Slurry as an Alternative for Ceria Slurry

Abstract

While investigating polishing mechanism of glass substrates with ceria abrasives (CeO2), we found its oxidizing properties worked effectively for the polishing. This finding has inspired us to speculate about the possibility of the manganese oxide abrasives as an alternative for ceria as they also have oxidizing properties. Therefore, focusing on the valence of the manganese, we have experimentally manufactured MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3 and Mn3O4 abrasives, and conducted a comparison study of the characteristics obtained with ceria slurry and manganese oxide slurries. As a result, the surface roughness of below Ra 0.8nm obtained with Mn2O3 slurry was found better than that with the conventional ceria slurry, on top of which, its removal rate was as good as or equal to that of ceria. Using a novel, closed type CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) machine, we conducted another glass polishing experiment with ceria and manganese oxide slurries. The inside of the CMP machine was filled with high-pressure gases such as oxygen, air and nitrogen and kept at 500kPa to make the polishing environment radical. Through this experiment, we found an effective polishing method for high-quality surface. The removal rates were several times better than that of the conventional polishing performed in an open CMP machine.