A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) mechanism is proposed. The mechanism is based on the catalytic phenomenon of a pad. The method of chemical kinetics is used for deducing the rate equation of the catalytic-pad chemical kinetics model. Finally, the polishing rate (PR) equation can be expressed as PR=(AK(1)K(2)K(3)k(4)C(A)C(C)C(T))/(1+K-3+K1K3CA), where K-1, K-2, K-3, and k(4) are reaction-related constants, C-A, C-C, and C-T are the concentration of abrasives in the slurry, chemicals in the slurry, and total active sites within pores, and A is the area of a polished wafer. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society.