Kinik brazed-diamond CMP pad conditioner

Tom passes around a brazed-diamond pad conditioner used to dress chemical-mechanical-polish pads in semiconductor planarization (200–400 processing steps per chip). Functions as structural abrasive plus high-thermal-conductivity substrate.

Up here there's a structural material called diamond. It's not used in very large volumes. I actually have some diamond here. [Tom produces a sample of brazed diamond.] This is a little diamond made by Kinik, and it's brazed diamonds. [Tom shows a pad conditioner.] Kinik makes what's called a pad conditioner. This is sort of a functional material — diamond's a structural material — but it's fairly pricey. It can't be made in large size. They make it in 1- or 2-millimeter-thick sheets, very expensive as a semiconductor substrate because it has the best thermal properties in the world. It can conduct heat away from a semiconductor better than anything else. For a diamond pad conditioner or a diamond sharpener, it is being used as a structural material. It can abrade other materials better than anything else.