TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The method additionally involves prepolishing the aluminum surface prior to contacting the surface of the substrate with the polishing pad and the polishing composition. The step of prepolishing the surface of the substrate is achieved by diamond turning of the surface or by lapping. The surface is polished to provide a polished surface having a predetermined surface roughness, where the surface is substantially planar, concave or convex. Preferred Components: The abrasive is fumed silica, precipitated silica or condensation-polymerized silica. The agent that oxidizes aluminum is ammonium persulfate, hydrogen peroxide, potassium hydrogen peroxymonosulfate sulfate or peracetic acid.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - METALLURGY - Preferred Components: The substrate consists of aluminum or its alloy. The aluminum alloy is a 6000 series aluminum alloy, or 6061 T6 aluminum alloy.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Composition: The polishing composition (c1) further comprises an organic acid. The abrasive is present in the polishing composition (c1) in an amount of 0.1-20 (preferably 1-10) wt.%.Preferred Components: The organic acid is succinic acid.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The polishing pad consists of a polymer resin selected from thermoplastic elastomer, thermoplastic polyurethane, thermoplastic polyolefin, polycarbonate, polyvinylalcohol, nylon, elastomeric rubber, elastomeric polyethylenes, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyethyleneteraphthalate, polyimide, polyaramide, polyarylene, polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate and/or their copolymers (preferably thermoplastic polyurethane). The polishing pad comprises a resilient subpad and a polymeric polishing film substantially coextensive with the resilient subpad, where the polymeric polishing film comprises a polishing surface and a back surface releasably associated with the resilient subpad. The polymeric polishing film comprises a material selected from polycarbonate, polyester, nylon and/or polyvinyl chloride. EXAMPLE - An 8 inch (20.3 cm) wafer consisting of 6061 T6 aluminum alloy and having a surface lapped to a matte finish was subjected to a two-step polishing process. The first polishing step involved polishing with a polishing composition comprised of (wt.%) fumed silica (6) and ammonium persulfate (1) in water, and having a pH of 9. The wafer was polished for 60 minutes with a downforce pressure of 27.6 kPa (4 psi) and then for 15 minutes with a downforce pressure of 20.7 kPa (3 psi), where the downforce pressure refers to the pressure of the substrate against the polishing pad, using a commercially available polishing apparatus equipped with a hard polyurethane polishing pad. After polishing, each wafer was buffed during a second polishing step for 1 minute with a slurry comprised of (wt.%) fumed silica (5) and DeIonic LF-60MOD (RTM: surfactant) (0.03) in water using a Politex pad at a downforce pressure of 13.8 kPa (2 psi). The polishing parameters were 50 revolution per minute (rpm) platen speed and 50 rpm carrier speed for all steps. Following polishing, the total amount of surface material removed was determined, and the wafer was examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) at 3 different regions to determine average surface roughness. The obtained aluminum surface had total surface removal rate of 168 - 178 Angstrom and average surface roughness of 1.58 nm.