Method of polishing semiconductor wafer

A method of polishing a wafer, comprising:

• a first step of selecting a within-wafer distribution model of a removal rate which represents a distribution of a removal rate within a wafer and a within-wafer distribution model of a polishing process which is a model representing a time passage in polishing;
• a second step of obtaining a within-wafer distribution of a removal rate by determining a parameter of the within-wafer distribution model of the removal rate based on a within-wafer distribution of a film thickness before/after CMP of a polished wafer, data of a polishing condition and the within-wafer distribution model of the polishing process selected in said first step;
• and
• a third step of determining a polishing condition with a restriction that a film thickness at each position in the within-wafer distribution of the film thickness after CMP satisfies a control limit by estimating a film thickness in the polishing process from the passage of time based on said within-wafer distribution of the removal rate obtained in the second step, the within-wafer distribution model of the polishing process selected in said first step, and a film thickness of a wafer to be processed before CMP,
• wherein a polishing condition in which a film thickness after CMP of the wafer can be set within the control limit is determined on the basis of the film thickness before CMP at each measurement site of the wafer.