Patent ID: 6547640
Filing Date: 2003-04-15
Classification: B24B

Abstract:
In chemical-mechanical planarization of microelectronic substrate assemblies, a method for determining the status of a microelectronic substrate during a planarizing cycle comprising:determining an estimated value of an output factor related to a process parameter that can be measured during the planarizing cycle by modeling the output factor based upon a predicted thickness of a layer on the substrate and an estimated removal rate relationship; ascertaining an updated predicted thickness of the layer by measuring an actual value of the output factor during the planarizing cycle and calculating an updated thickness according to the actual value of the output factor and the estimated value of the output factor; repeating the determining procedure and the ascertaining procedure using the updated predicted thickness of the layer of an immediately previous iteration to bring the estimated value of the output factor to within a desired range of the actual value of the output factor; and controlling a process parameter of the planarizing cycle when the updated predicted thickness of the layer is within a desired range of a predetermined elevation for the substrate assembly.