During polishing of a stack of adjacent layers, a plurality of instances of a profile control algorithm are executed on a controller with different instances having different values for a control parameter. A first instance receives a sequence of characterizing values from an in-situ monitoring system during an initial time period to control a polishing parameter, and a second instance receives the sequence of characterizing values during the initial time period and a subsequent time period to control the polishing parameter. Exposure of the underlying layer is detected based on the sequence of characterizing values from the in-situ monitoring system.

A method of polishing a substrate includes polishing a conductive layer on the substrate at a polishing station, monitoring the layer with an in-situ eddy current monitoring system to generate a plurality of measured signals values for a plurality of different locations on the layer, generating thickness measurements the locations, and detecting a polishing endpoint or modifying a polishing parameter based on the thickness measurements. The conductive layer is formed of a first material having a first conductivity. Generating includes calculating initial thickness values based on the plurality of measured signals values and processing the initial thickness values through a neural network that was trained using training data acquired by measuring calibration substrates having a conductive layer formed of a second material having a second conductivity that is lower than the first conductivity to generated adjusted thickness values.

In a first step, an output of an eddy current sensor is measured while a polishing target whose film thickness has been known is in contact with the polishing face, thereby obtaining a measurement value of the eddy current sensor which corresponds to the film thickness. In a second step, an output of the eddy current sensor is measured when the polishing target is polished while pressed against the polishing face, thereby obtaining a measurement value of the eddy current sensor that corresponds to a film thickness during polishing. A correspondence relationship between the film thickness of the polishing target and the measurement value of the eddy current sensor is determined from the measurement value obtained in the first step and the measurement value obtained in the second step.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for processing eyeglass lens which determines the completion of the eyeglass lens processing by using a hall sensor. The eyeglass lens processing apparatus comprises: a grinding wheel mounted frame (22) mounted with a grinding wheel (20) for grinding a lens, and whose position is changed according to a predetermined grinding depth of the lens; a carriage (12) for moving the lens to contact with the grinding wheel (20), and which contacts with the grinding wheel mounted frame (22) when the lens which contacts with the grinding wheel (20) is grinded to the predetermined grinding depth; and a hall sensor detector (30) for detecting a contact of the grinding wheel mounted frame (22) and the carriage (12), wherein the hall sensor detector (30) includes a magnet (32) and a hall sensor (34) for detecting an intensity of a magnetic field generated by the magnet (32), the magnet (32) is equipped on either one of the carriage (12) and the grinding wheel mounted frame (22), and the hall sensor (34) is equipped on the other one of the carriage (12) and the grinding wheel mounted frame (22), in case an output signal of the hall sensor (34) is A when the grinding wheel mounted frame (22) and the carriage (12) are in contacts with each other, if the output signal of the hall sensor (34) is smaller or larger than A by a tolerance, it is determined that the grinding wheel mounted frame (22) and the carriage (12) are in a separated state.

Provided is a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus comprises a polishing table; a polishing pad disposed on an upper surface of the polishing table; a conditioner including a conditioner head, a disk holder movably coupled to the conditioner head in a vertical direction, and a conditioning disk mounted to the disk holder and in contact with the polishing pad; and a thickness measuring unit of obtaining the thickness of the polishing pad from the relative moving distance of the disk holder with respect to the conditioner head, wherein the information of the relative moving distance is received from sensing unit.

An eddy current detection device configured to form a stronger magnetic field in a polishing target and a polishing apparatus employing the same eddy current detection device are provided. An eddy current detection device that can be disposed near a semiconductor wafer on which a conductive film is formed includes a plurality of eddy current sensors. The plurality of eddy current sensors are disposed near to one another. Each of the plurality of eddy current sensors includes a pot core, an exciting coil disposed in the pot core and configured to form an eddy current in the conductive film, and a detection coil disposed in the pot core and configured to detect the eddy current formed in the conductive film.

A method of controlling polishing includes storing a base measurement, the base measurement being a measurement of a substrate after deposition of at least one layer overlying a semiconductor wafer and before deposition of an outer layer over the at least one layer, after deposition of the outer layer over the at least one layer and during polishing of the outer layer on substrate, receiving a sequence of raw measurements of the substrate from an in-situ monitoring system, normalizing each raw measurement in the sequence of raw measurement to generate a sequence of normalized measurements using the raw measurement and the base measurement, and determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate based on at least the sequence of normalized measurements.

A receiving unit receives sensor data output from an eddy current sensor for detecting the film thickness of a polishing object to generate film thickness data. A correcting unit corrects the film thickness data in an inside of the edge of the polishing object based on the film thickness data generated by the receiving unit. The correcting unit corrects the film thickness data generated by the receiving unit in the inside of the edge of the polishing object using the film thickness data generated by the receiving unit in an outside of the edge of the polishing object.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for polishing a surface of a substrate having a film whose thickness varies along a circumferential direction of the substrate. The polishing method includes: obtaining a film-thickness distribution in a circumferential direction of a substrate (W); determining a first area having a maximum or minimum film thickness based on the film-thickness distribution; rotating a polishing table (3) holding a polishing pad (2); pressing a surface of the substrate (W) against the polishing pad (2) while rotating the substrate by a polishing head (1); and polishing the first area at a removal rate different from that of a second area in the surface of the substrate (W).

A method of controlling processing of a substrate includes generating, based on a signal from an in-situ monitoring system, first and second sequences of characterizing values indicative of a physical property of a reference zone and a control zone, respectively, on a substrate. A reference zone rate and a control zone rate are determined from the first and sequence of characterizing values, respectively. An error value is determined by comparing characterizing values for the reference zone and control zone. An output parameter value for the control zone is generated based on at least the error value and a dynamic nominal control zone value using a proportional-integral-derivative control algorithm, and the dynamic nominal control zone value is generated in a second control loop based on at least the reference zone rate and the control zone rate. The control zone of the substrate is processed according to the output parameter value.