CMP slurries and pads
Abrasive slurries (ceria, silica, alumina) and polyurethane pads used to polish each chip layer flat; a $3.6 billion consumables market.
Specialty chemicals · Electronic chemicals · No. 73
- Product family
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- not published as tonnage
- 1.5 t CO₂e per t
- HS 340590
Every chip layer is polished flat with a nanoscale grit, and one company makes over half the world's polishing pads.
Chart: Illustration: CMP slurries and pads
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Ceria from rare-earth separation, or silica grown from sodium silicate, is made into particles under about 100 nm and dispersed in water with hydrogen peroxide.
Three things to know
- Slurries made up $2.14 billion of the 2025 market and pads $1.46 billion, together up 6% on 2024.
- Slurries for new contact metals like cobalt, molybdenum and ruthenium are forecast to grow 94% over five years.
- Ceria slurry ties chipmaking to rare earths, and in 2024 TECHCET urged qualifying ceria, alumina and silica from outside China and Russia.
The journey
- 1 AbrasivesCeria, colloidal silica or high-purity alumina
- 2 Slurry mixingDispersed in water with oxidisers, additives
- 3 PadsPolyurethane cast with pores and grooves
- 4 PolishingRotating pad and slurry flatten each layer
- 5 Next layerFlat wafer ready for more patterning