Methods of modeling and controlling pad wear

A pad conditioning process, comprising:

• generating a first pad wear model based on a first set of parameters including a plurality of cut rates of a pad conditioning disk used in the pad conditioning process performed on a pad disposed on a platen, the first pad wear model generated by a controller;
• applying a first filter to the first pad wear model to form a first filtered pad wear removal model, wherein the first filter is configured to filter the first pad wear model based on receipt of the first set of parameters;
• simultaneously applying a second filter to the first pad wear model to form a second filtered pad wear removal model, wherein the second filter is configured to filter the first pad wear model based on receipt of a second set of parameters and simultaneously applying the second filter is performed in parallel with applying the first filter to the first pad wear model;
• updating the first pad wear model based on one or more measurements of the pad, the first filtered pad wear removal model, and the second filtered pad wear removal model;
• updating the plurality of cut rates based on at least one of a previous pad wear model and/or on the one or more measurements;
• generating a second pad wear model based on the updated first pad wear model with the one or more measurements and the second set of parameters including the updated plurality of cut rates;
• applying the second pad wear model to a pad conditioning recipe to form an updated pad conditioning recipe for conditioning the pad;
• and
• conditioning the pad using the updated pad conditioning recipe.

A method of conditioning a surface of a polishing pad, comprising:

• abrading the surface of the polishing pad by translating a pad conditioning disk across the surface of the polishing pad, wherein abrading further comprises:
• determining a plurality of dwell times, wherein each dwell time includes the time that the pad conditioning disk dwells over each of a plurality of radial conditioning zones while translating the pad conditioning disk, wherein the plurality of radial conditioning zones are concentric to a central axis of the polishing pad,
• wherein the determining comprises combining a cut rate for each of the plurality of radial conditioning zones and a desired material removal amount for each of the plurality of radial conditioning zones;
• and
• dwelling over one or more of the plurality of radial conditioning zones of the polishing pad while translating across the surface of the polishing pad;
• and
• determining when to replace the polishing pad by modeling progression of pad wear using the plurality of dwell times, wherein the modeling progression of pad wear comprises:
• generating, by a controller, a pad wear removal model based on a set of parameters, including the plurality of dwell times and a plurality of total pad conditioning disk cut times;
• applying a first filter to the pad wear removal model to form a first filtered pad wear removal model, wherein the first filter is configured to filter the pad wear removal model based on receipt of a first set of parameter data;
• simultaneously applying a second filter to the pad wear removal model to form a second filtered pad wear removal model, wherein the second filter is configured to filter the pad wear removal model based on receipt of a second set of parameter data and simultaneously applying the second filter is performed in parallel with applying the first filter to the pad wear removal model;
• updating the pad wear removal model based on the first filtered pad wear removal model and the second filtered pad wear removal model to form an updated pad wear removal model;
• applying the updated pad wear removal model to a pad conditioning recipe to form an updated pad conditioning recipe for conditioning the polishing pad;
• and
• conditioning the polishing pad using the updated pad conditioning recipe.