Patent ID: 6997788

Claim:
A polishing method comprising: (a) supplying a first batch of workpieces to a first CMP tool for partly polishing the first batch with one or more silica (SiO 2 ) based chemical mechanical polishing slurries or equivalents; (b) forwarding the partly-polished first batch of workpieces to a second CMP tool which uses ceria (CeO 2 ) based chemical mechanical polishing slurries or equivalents to further polish the batch of partly-polished workpieces; (c) completing the polishing of the partly-polished workpieces in the second CMP tool so as to expose in each workpiece, a predefined and detectable surface level; and (d) using end-point detection in the second CMP tool to determine when the predefined surface level of a given workpiece has been exposed.