Cabot Microelectronics Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of polishing slurries and pads used in the manufacture of advanced integrated circuit (IC) devices within the semiconductor industry in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) technology is a polishing process used by IC device manufacturers to planarize or flatten the multiple layers of material that are deposited upon silicon wafers. The company offers CMP slurries, which are liquid solutions composed of high-purity deionized water, proprietary chemical additives, and engineered abrasives that chemically and mechanically interact with the surface material of the IC device at an atomic level; and CMP polishing pads that are engineered polymeric materials designed to distribute and transport the slurry to the surface of the wafer and distribute it evenly across the wafer. Its CMP slurries are used for various polishing applications, including materials that conduct electrical signals, such as tungsten, copper, tantalum, and aluminum; the dielectric insulating materials that separate conductive layers within logic and memory IC devices; and certain materials that are used in the production of rigid disks and magnetic heads for hard disk drives. The company also designs and produces precision polishing and metrology systems to attain shape and surface finish on various optical components, such as mirrors, lenses, and prisms. It serves producers of logic IC devices and memory IC devices, as well as IC foundries. Cabot Microelectronics Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Aurora, Illinois.