Patent ID: 9486893
Filing Date: 2016-11-08
CPC Classification: B23K,B24B,B26D,B26F

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: polishing a surface of a substrate by pressing the surface of the substrate against a polishing surface of a polishing layer of a polishing pad, wherein the polishing pad defines one or more grooves separated by one or more partition regions with an outer surface of the one or more partition regions of the polishing layer providing the polishing surface and with the polishing layer providing the bottom of the one or more grooves, and wherein the one or more grooves have an initial depth before the polishing starts and extend from an initial outer surface of the one or more partition regions to an initial bottom of the one or more grooves; abrading the polishing surface, wherein the abrading removes material from the one or more partitions regions and reduces a thickness of the polishing pad; and removing material of the polishing layer below the initial bottom of the one or more grooves such that a distance between the outer surface of the one or more partition regions and a bottom of the one or more grooves remain substantially the same as the initial depth as the thickness of the polishing pad is reduced.