A polishing system includes a platen having a top surface to support an annular polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a substrate in contact with the annular polishing pad, a support structure extending above the platen and to which one or more polishing system components are secured, and a support post. The platen is rotatable about an axis of rotation that passes through approximately a center of the platen. The first support post has an upper end coupled to and supporting the support structure and a lower portion that is supported on the platen or that extends through an aperture in the platen.

Provided is a chemical-mechanical polishing composition comprising an abrasive, a basic component, at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a quaternary polyammonium salt, a quaternary ammonium salt having 6 or more carbon atoms, and an alkylated polymer having an amide structure, and an aqueous carrier; a rinse composition comprising the at least one compound and an aqueous carrier, as well as a method of chemically-mechanically polishing a substrate, and a method of rinsing a substrate, in which the respective compositions are used.

An object of the present invention is to provide a nanobubble-containing inorganic oxide fine particle dispersion having excellent concentration stability in a process used as an abrasive. The object is achieved by the nanobubble-containing inorganic oxide fine particle dispersion including: inorganic oxide fine particles having an average particle size of 1 to 500 nm and containing fine particles containing Ce; and nanobubbles having an average cell size of 50 to 500 nm and being at least one non-oxidizing gas selected from a group consisting of N.sub.2 and H.sub.2.

Provided is a novel polishing composition. The polishing composition comprises a water-soluble polymer at least comprising a vinyl alcohol-based resin having a side-chain group of 3 carbon atoms or more.

A polishing liquid for polishing a surface to be polished containing cobalt, the polishing liquid containing abrasive grains, at least one sugar component selected from the group consisting of a sugar alcohol, a sugar alcohol derivative, and a polysaccharide, an acid component, and water, in which a pH of the polishing liquid is more than 8.0.

A dresser includes a main body having a stepped surface comprising a plurality of steps, wherein a thickness of the main body at a first step of the plurality of steps is a largest thickness of the main body, and a thickness of the main body at a last step of the plurality of steps is a smallest thickness of the main body; and a plurality of superhard particles disposed on each of the plurality of steps of the stepped surface. The plurality of steps of the stepped surface are different in area, and particle diameters of the superhard particles increase stepwise from the first step of the plurality of steps to the last step of the plurality of steps.

A dresser includes a main body having a stepped surface comprising a plurality of steps, wherein a thickness of the main body at a first step of the plurality of steps is a largest thickness of the main body, and a thickness of the main body at a last step of the plurality of steps is a smallest thickness of the main body; and a plurality of superhard particles disposed on each of the plurality of steps of the stepped surface. The plurality of steps of the stepped surface are different in area, and particle diameters of the superhard particles increase stepwise from the first step of the plurality of steps to the last step of the plurality of steps.

To provide modified colloidal silica capable of improving the stability of the polishing speed with time when used as abrasive grains in a polishing composition for polishing a polishing object that contains a material to which charged modified colloidal silica easily adheres, such as a SiN wafer, and to provide a method for producing the modified colloidal silica. Modified colloidal silica, being obtained by modifying raw colloidal silica, wherein the raw colloidal silica has a number distribution ratio of 10% or less of microparticles having a particle size of 40% or less relative to a volume average particle size based on Heywood diameter (equivalent circle diameter) as determined by image analysis using a scanning electron microscope.

To provide modified colloidal silica capable of improving the stability of the polishing speed with time when used as abrasive grains in a polishing composition for polishing a polishing object that contains a material to which charged modified colloidal silica easily adheres, such as a SiN wafer, and to provide a method for producing the modified colloidal silica. Modified colloidal silica, being obtained by modifying raw colloidal silica, wherein the raw colloidal silica has a number distribution ratio of 10% or less of microparticles having a particle size of 40% or less relative to a volume average particle size based on Heywood diameter (equivalent circle diameter) as determined by image analysis using a scanning electron microscope.

A polishing composition that can not only achieve high polishing speed, but also can improve the surface smoothness (surface quality) of a polished substrate and reduce defects is provided. That is, provided is a polishing composition comprising silica particles and a water soluble polymer, wherein the contained silica particles satisfy the following requirements (a) to (c): (a) the primary particle diameter based on the specific surface area is 5 to 300 nm; (b) the coefficient of variation in the particle diameter is 10% or less; and (c) the Sears number Y is 10.0 to 12.0.