Patent ID: 8222144

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising: forming a film to be polished made of an insulating film or a conductive film on a semiconductor substrate; and flattening a surface of the film after the forming step, wherein the flattening step comprises a first polishing process carried out on the surface of the film using a first abrasive with non-Prestonian properties produced by mixing abrasive materials, including abrasive grains, a polymer additive and water, at a predetermined first mixture ratio, and a second polishing process carried out on the surface of the film using a second abrasive produced by mixing the abrasive materials at a predetermined second mixture ratio different from the first mixture ratio to make a concentration of the polymer additive lower than that of the first abrasive, wherein the second abrasive is produced so as to have the concentration of the polymer additive equal to or lower than ¼ of that of the first abrasive; wherein the second polishing process is carried out after the first polishing process shifts to an automatically stopping state in which polishing hardly progresses; wherein the first polishing process is carried out under a predetermined first polishing pressure and the second polishing process is carried out under a second polishing pressure higher than the first polishing pressure; and wherein the second polishing process is carried out on the surface of the film in a surface state which causes the first polishing process to shift to the automatically stopping state at a polishing rate equal to or more than 200 nm per minute.