CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING PADS HAVING A CONSISTENT PAD SURFACE MICROTEXTURE

The present invention provides pre-conditioned chemical mechanical (CMP) polishing pads comprising a polymer, preferably, a porous polymer having a pad surface microtexture effective for polishing having a series of visibly intersecting arcs on the polishing layer surface, the intersecting arcs having a radius of curvature equal to or greater than half of the radius of curvature of the pad and extending all the way around the surface of the pad in radial symmetry around the center point of the pad wherein the resulting CMP polishing pad has a surface roughness of from 0.01 μm to 25 μm, Sq. The CMP polishing pads may be made by methods comprising grinding the surface of a CMP polishing pad with a rotary grinder to form the surface microtexture.