What is the advantage of using coated flock pile pads?
QUESTION:
What is the advantage of using coated flock pile pads?
ANSWER:
CMP flock pile pads have gone from being a good idea – but problematic – to becoming an advanced process that offers repeatable, predictable results.
In the early days of MT process development, many types of chemical slurries were used in the polishing process. The slurry contained water or oil with a chemical compound, which was manually deposited onto a polishing pad by a technician.
(Coated flock pile pads were not available at the time.)
The CMP occurred with the addition of the mechanical action: motion, pressure, and velocity. This slurry-based polishing process was not clean and did not yield predictable results. It was tricky at best!
Today’s coated flock pile pads – pre-deposited films – make the polishing process cleaner and more efficient while providing repeatable, predictable results. Of course, the quality of the coated flock pile pad is important. Achieving the correct etching and polishing process requires manufacturers to maintain very tight quality control of critical aspects such as pile (fiber) size, length, uniformity, and density as well as controlled particle size of the abrasive chemicals.
When process engineers ask about slurries, I let them know that these are still available, but they will not get repeatable results. They WILL get repeatable, predictable results using a coated flock pile pad with chemical deposition.
READ THE FULL BLOG ARTICLE HERE: Using Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) to polish MT ferrules and get repeatable, predictable results
