Research on Chemical Mechanical Polishing for Silicon Nitride Ceramics

Silicon nitride ceramics materials have excellent properties such as small density, high rigidity, high Young's modulus, high wearability, good thermal stability and chemical stability, which make it become one of the most appropriate materials for rollers of high precision bearing. Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) technology is employed to have an ultra-precision machining process for silicon nitride ceramics materials workpiece and the effects of workpiece surface roughness in different abrasive are discussed in this research. The XRD and SEM technology are used to take phase analysis and surface profile detection for the finishing workpiece polished with CeO2 abrasive. The chemical reaction mechanism and the material remove mechanism of silicon nitride ceramics materials in CMP process with CeO2 abrasive are both analysed and discussed in this paper. The research result shows that an extremely smooth surface of silicon nitride ceramics materials workpiece with roughness 5nm Ra is obtained after CMP process with polyurethane polishing pad and CeO2 abrasive.