Chemical mechanical polishing processes and components

The present invention relates generally to chemical mechanical polishing of substrates, and more particularly to improvements in chemical mechanical polishing processes and components. A substrate is chemical mechanical polished first with a single layer hard polishing pad and a high-selectivity slurry until a first endpoint is reached, and then with a soft polishing pad and a low-selectivity slurry until a second endpoint is reached. Dishing is reduced when low-selectivity slurry is used at the second polishing step. Low Within-Wafer-Non-Uniformity is achieved by using a single layer hard pad at low pressure at the first polishing step.