Patent Document ID: 20120053721
Application ID: 13292029
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for polishing substrates, the method comprising: receiving, by a computing system including a processor, data relating to material removal rates for a plurality of substantially annular regions on a current wafer; predicting, by the computing system, a material removal rate for each of the plurality of substantially annular regions using a wafer polishing model that is based on measurement of one or more previous wafers that have completed at least one step of a polishing process, wherein the wafer polishing model defines an effect of a tool state of the at least one polishing station on polishing effectiveness based on applying a scaling factor that depends on pad life and disk life; calculating, by the computing system, a difference between the predicted material removal rates and actual material removal rates that are determined based on the received data; updating, by the computer system, the wafer polishing model based on the calculated difference; and adjusting, by the computing system, a processing parameter of the polishing process based on the updated wafer polishing model.