Patent ID: 7122475

Claim:
In the manufacturing of microelectronic devices, a method of planarizing microelectronic-device substrate assemblies, comprising: fabricating an abrasive slurry by filtering a first solution having a plurality of first abrasive particles to create a filtered flow of the first solution, generating a flow of a second solution having a plurality of second abrasive particles separately from filtering the first solution, separating a second type of selected abrasive particles from the second abrasive particles of the second solution to create a filtered flow of the second solution, and combining the filtered flow of the first solution and the filtered flow of the second solution into a single abrasive slurry having a first distribution of the first abrasive particles and a second distribution of the second abrasive particles; dispensing the abrasive slurry onto a planarizing surface of a polishing pad; and removing material from a substrate assembly by pressing the substrate assembly against the planarizing surface and moving at least one of the substrate assembly and the polishing pad with respect to the other to translate the substrate assembly across the planarizing surface.