Patent ID: 7101254

Claim:
A chemical mechanical polishing system comprising: an interface module configured to receive cassettes of pre-processed substrates, the pre-processed substrates each including a conductive layer having an associated initial thickness; an eddy current monitoring system positioned in the interface module to generate information indicative of at least one of the initial thickness and a processed thickness of the conductive layer on a specified pre-processed substrate; a polishing module configured to receive information indicative of one or more polishing parameters for the specified substrate, wherein the polishing parameters are based on the at least one of an initial thickness and a processed thickness of the conductive layer on the specified pre-processed substrate, the polishing module further configured to polish the specified substrate according to the polishing parameters; a cleaner; and a substrate transfer system configured to transfer the pre-processed substrates from a cassette to the eddy current monitoring system, the substrate transfer system father configured to transfer the pre-processed substrates from the eddy current monitoring system to the polishing module.