Patent ID: 11951590
Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 12:
13. A method of forming a polishing pad, comprising:
(a) dispensing droplets of a pre-polymer composition onto a surface of a previously formed print layer according to a predetermined droplet dispense pattern;
(b) at least partially curing the dispensed droplets of the pre-polymer composition to form a print layer; and
(c) sequentially repeating (a) and (b) to form a plurality of polishing elements, wherein a plurality of grooves are disposed between adjacent polishing elements of the plurality of polishing elements, each polishing element comprising:
a plurality of individual posts, each individual post comprising:
an individual surface that forms a portion of a polishing surface of the polishing pad; and
one or more sidewalls extending downwardly from the individual surface, wherein
each polishing element of the plurality of polishing elements has a width of 5 mm, and
the sidewalls of the plurality of individual posts define a plurality of pores between adjacent individual posts of the plurality of individual posts, and wherein the plurality of pores are interconnected, each pore of the plurality of pores having a width of 120 μm or less.