Removal of scratch on the surface of MgO single crystal substrate in chemical mechanical polishing process

Etching and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) experiments of the MgO single crystal substrate with an artificial scratch on its surface are respectively performed with the developed polishing slurry mainly containing 2 vol.% phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and 10–20 nm colloidal silica particles, through observing the variations of the scratch topography on the substrate surface in experiments process, the mechanism and effect of removing scratch during etching and polishing are studied, some evaluating indexes for effect of removing scratch are presented. Finally, chemical mechanical polishing experiments of the MgO substrates after lapped are conducted by using different kinds of polishing pads, and influences of the polishing pad hardness on removal of the scratches on the MgO substrate surface are discussed.