Polishing liquids for activating and/or conditioning fixed abrasive polishing pads, and associated systems and methods

摘要

Polishing liquids for activating and/or conditioning fixed abrasive polishing pads, and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A method in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes disposing a polishing liquid on a polishing surface of a microfeature workpiece polishing pad. The polishing pad can include a matrix material and a plurality of abrasive elements fixedly distributed in the matrix material. The polishing liquid can include a plurality of particles that are at least approximately chemically inert with respect to the abrasive elements. In a particular embodiment, the particles can have a polymeric, non-ceramic composition. The method can further include moving at least one of the polishing pad and the plurality of particles relative to the other to remove deposits from the polishing pad. This operation can be performed serially or simultaneously with using the polishing pad to remove material from a microfeature workpiece.