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Due to its high optical permeability, excellent high temperature resistance, and chemical inertness, fused silica (FS) has been widely used in astronomical telescopes, laser systems, and optical communication. Based on the smooth surface polishing of fused silica using ceria slurry, the variations of polishing performance of fused silica in the recycling polishing were studied. Meanwhile, the variations of the ceria slurry characteristics in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of fused silica were investigated. The variations of the average size and the morphology of the abrasive ceria particles were measured. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement was used to evaluate the chemical state of the ceria slurry in different recycling polishing time. Then, elastic moduli via atomic force microscope (AFM) force curves measurement of the abrasive ceria particles were measured and analyzed. And the change of shear viscosity of the slurry was monitored. In addition, the relative removal mechanism of fused silica using ceria slurry recycling was discussed.

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Chemical residuals on fused silica after chemical mechanical polishing with silica and ceria have been analyzed. The surface of fused silica terminates with silanol after being polished with silica abrasives but ends up with Ce‐O−Si in a ceria‐based slurry under the CMP environment. The silanol firstly synthesizes on a fused silica surface polished with ceria, but then further reacts with hydroxyl cerium groups scattering in the slurry forming Ce‐O−Si. It also reveals that polishing fused silica with silica abrasives is an alternative way giving an ultra smooth surface.

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