CMP Pad Conditioners And Diamond Slurries
What This Process Needs To Solve
Chemical mechanical planarisation consumes diamond in two places at once. The pad conditioner — a diamond disc, brush or tip — cuts the glazed surface off the polishing pad so the pad keeps its roughness and keeps delivering slurry. The slurry carries the diamond that actually removes material from the wafer. The two jobs need opposite things: the conditioner wants sharp, blocky, tightly graded crystals that will survive being pressed into a pad thousands of times; the slurry wants narrow-distribution, high-purity particles that remove material without scratching.
Pad conditioners: shape first, then strength
Conditioner discs are made by sintering, brazing or electroplating diamond onto a substrate. What matters in service is crystal shape — octahedral crystals present a sharp apex and cut the pad cleanly instead of ploughing it — plus uniform size so the diamonds stand at the same height, and a coating strong enough that the particle does not pull out under load. Our high-grade monocrystalline grit is selected on all three.
Slurries: purity and distribution set the scratch rate
For CMP slurries, three powder families are used. Monocrystalline micron powder for the general case; polycrystalline-like micron powder where the customer wants a higher removal rate, because the particle surface carries many small cutting edges that renew as they wear; and detonation or nano diamond for the finest finishing. Across all three, metal impurity below 10 ppm, an extremely narrow size distribution, stable zeta potential and dispersion quality decide whether the wafer comes off the platen clean.
Recommended Grades And Size Ranges
Conditioner grit and slurry powder are specified separately. Sizes below are the ranges our semiconductor customers order.
| Use | Recommended grade | Size range | Why this grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMP pad conditionersSintered, brazed or electroplated discs | |||
| Pad conditioner / diamond disc | MBD-6, MBD-8, MBD-10, MBD-12 high-grade monocrystalline | 50# – 325# (80# – 270# most used) | Regular octahedral shape, sharp apex, uniform size |
| CMP slurries and polishing fluidsSi wafer, SiC wafer, sapphire substrate | |||
| Monocrystalline slurry | HDY monocrystalline micron | 0.5 – 60 µm full series | General CMP work, coarse to fine |
| Polycrystalline-like slurry | HDYP polycrystalline-like micron | 0.7 – 40 µm | Many small cutting edges, higher removal rate |
| Detonation and nano slurry | HDP detonation polycrystalline, HDPN nano detonation | 5 nm – 500 nm | Finest finishing step |
Sizes outside these windows are produced against a customer sample. D50, D90 and the upper cut are reported on the batch certificate, and metal impurity is controlled below 10 ppm on slurry grades.
What has to hold
- Metal impurity below 10 ppm
- Extremely narrow particle size distribution
- Stable zeta potential
- Excellent dispersion
Where it ships
Diamond Grades For This Process
Factory Direct Since 1990
Zhecheng Hongxiang Superhard Material Co., Ltd. is an integrated manufacturer and exporter of synthetic diamond powders since 1990, located in the Diamond Capital of China.
- Own manufacturing base in Zhengzhou, Henan — powder, coating and grading on one site.
- In-house particle size and SEM inspection on every batch before packing.
- Export packing with neutral or custom label, plus sample quantities for process trials.
What To Include
Describe your workpiece, process and target result. We will match the diamond grade from the existing product range.