Patent ID: 8137166

Claim:
A polishing pad for use with polishing slurry comprising: a nonwoven fabric including a plurality of soluble fibers having a diameter in the range of 5 to 80 micrometers, wherein said soluble fibers comprise one or more of nonwoven fibrous and fabric structures, woven and knitted fibrous and fabric structures, and an insoluble component, wherein said pad has a thickness and includes a first surface having a plurality of interconnected self-generating micro-grooves, wherein said soluble fibers are positioned through at least a portion of the thickness of the pad to continuously dissolve and form said micro-grooves in a newly exposed surface of said pad by exposure to said slurry, said micro-grooves having a width and/or depth in the range up to 150 micrometers, and wherein said micro-grooves are arranged in an array of longitudinal indentations in said first surface of said pad and retain and distribute said polishing slurry and said self-generating microgrooves are arranged in one of a crisscross, circular, spiral, radial, or centripetal arrays.