Methods and systems for polishing pad control

A polishing assembly for polishing of silicon wafers, the polishing assembly comprising:

• a polishing pad;
• a polishing head assembly configured to hold a silicon wafer, the polishing head assembly configured to position the silicon wafer in contact with the polishing pad and to selectively vary a removal profile of the silicon wafer;
• a temperature sensor configured to collect thermal data from a portion of the polishing pad;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to the polishing head assembly and the temperature sensor, the controller configured to receive the thermal data from the temperature sensor and to operate the polishing head assembly to selectively vary the removal profile of the silicon wafer based at least in part on the thermal data.

At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for operating a polishing assembly for polishing of silicon wafers, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

• receive thermal data of a portion of a polishing pad from a temperature sensor;
• determine a removal profile of a silicon wafer based at least in part on the thermal data;
• and
• operate a polishing head assembly to position the silicon wafer in contact with the polishing pad and to selectively vary the removal profile of the silicon wafer based at least in part on the thermal data.