Patent ID: 6855030

Claim:
A method of operating a modular chemical mechanical planarization process, the method comprising: operating a CMP apparatus comprising a docking station including a plurality of modules having at least one CMP module and at least one cleaning module to process one or more substrates therein, the plurality of modules being controllable separately by individual controllers associated separately with the modules; disengaging one of the modules from the docking station; mechanically removing the one disengaged module to free the module from the docking station; inserting a replacement module into the docking station and engaging the module for operation with the docking station while the other modules are still operable to process the one or more substrates therein; and prequalifying the replacement module using the individual controller associated with the replacement module to process one or more substrates therein for a preset process prior to inserting the replacement module into the docking station and engaging the module for operation with the docking station; wherein prequalifying the replacement module comprises processing one or more substrates therein for the preset process offline; and verifying that the replacement module meets preset minimum performance requirements based on process results of the one or more substrates processed therein.