Abstract

Float Polishing is a unique polishing technique developed in Japan, that produces supersmooth damage-free surfaces for electronic, optical and magnetic applications. Crystalline materials such as quartz, silicon and sapphire, polycrystalline materials such as ferrite and zinc sulfide, and amorphous materials such as fused silica and zerodur have been polished using this technique. Float polished substrates have a typical surface roughness of approximately 2 Å, with a flatness of λ/20. Float polishing is used commercially in the fabrication of ferrite recording heads, sapphire crowns for watches and quartz resonators.

© 1990 Optical Society of America