Patent ID: 8821746

Claim:
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: dressing a surface of a polishing pad using a conditioning disk held by an arm while rotating a platen that holds the polishing pad in a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus, wherein the dressing is performed by pressing the conditioning disk to the polishing pad, and rotating the arm around a rotational axis of the arm thereby to move the conditioning disk substantially along a radial direction of the platen between a center part and a circumferential part of the platen, and wherein torque N applied to the arm is measured at plural positions of the conditioning disk along the substantial radial direction during the dressing, and it is determined whether maintenance to the arm is necessary in accordance with an average value <N> of the measured torques N and a fluctuation range Y of the measured torques N, wherein plural sections divided along the radial radius direction of the platen are set on the surface of the polishing pad, and the plural positions in each of which the torque N is measured are distributed throughout the plural sections, wherein the average value <N> of the torques N and the fluctuation range Y of the torques N are obtained in each of the plural sections, wherein a double average value <<N>> is obtained by averaging the average values <N>, each of which is obtained in each of the plural sections, and an average value <Y> is obtained by averaging the fluctuation ranges Y, each of which is obtained in each of the plural sections, and wherein it is determined that the maintenance to the arm is necessary when a ratio of the average value <Y> with respect to the double average value <<N>> exceeds a first value.