A method of controlling polishing includes storing a base spectrum, the base spectrum being a spectrum of light reflected from a substrate after deposition of a deposited dielectric layers overlying a metallic layer or semiconductor wafer and before deposition of a non-metallic layer over the plurality of deposited dielectric layer. After deposition of the non-metallic layer and during polishing of the non-metallic layer on the substrate, measurements of a sequence of raw spectra of light reflected the substrate during polishing are received from an in-situ optical monitoring system. Each raw spectrum is normalized to generate a sequence of normalized spectra using the raw spectrum and the base spectrum. At least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate is determined based on at least one normalized predetermined spectrum from the sequence of normalized spectra.

A dispatch management method for Pilot-run on a computer and applicable to chemical mechanical polishing machines includes: generating initialization work schedules; filtering the initialization work schedules according to respective adaptability parameters to generate intermediate work schedules; performing crossing operations on the intermediate work schedules to generate M sets of crossed work schedules; performing mutation calculations on contents of the intermediate work schedules and the M sets of crossed work schedules to generate mutated work schedules; performing optimization calculations on the intermediate work schedules, the crossed work schedules and the mutated work schedules to generate a target work schedule; and automatically performing dispatch on the CMP machines according to the target work schedule.

A computer device is programmed to store a model for converting shape maps to simulate a portion of an assembly line, receive scan data of a first inspection of a product being assembled, generate a shape map from the scan data of the first inspection, execute the model using the shape map as an input to generate a final shape map of the product, compare the final shape map to one or more thresholds, determine if the final shape map exceeds at least one of the one or more thresholds, and if the determination is that the final shape map exceeds at least one of the one or more thresholds, cause the first device to be adjusted.

A dispatch management method for Pilot-run on a computer and applicable to chemical mechanical polishing machines includes: generating initialization work schedules; filtering the initialization work schedules according to respective adaptability parameters to generate intermediate work schedules; performing crossing operations on the intermediate work schedules to generate M sets of crossed work schedules; performing mutation calculations on contents of the intermediate work schedules and the M sets of crossed work schedules to generate mutated work schedules; performing optimization calculations on the intermediate work schedules, the crossed work schedules and the mutated work schedules to generate a target work schedule; and automatically performing dispatch on the CMP machines according to the target work schedule.

Some implementations described herein provide techniques and apparatuses for polishing a perimeter region of a semiconductor substrate so that a roll-off profile at or near the perimeter region of the semiconductor substrate satisfies a threshold. The described implementations include depositing a first layer of a first oxide material across the semiconductor substrate followed by depositing a second layer of a second oxide material over the first layer of the first oxide material and around a perimeter region of the semiconductor substrate. The described implementations further include polishing the second layer of the second oxide material over the perimeter region using a chemical mechanical planarization tool including one or more ring-shaped polishing pads oriented vertically over the perimeter region.

Values are selected for a plurality of controllable parameters of a chemical mechanical polishing system that includes a carrier head with a plurality of zones to apply independently controllable pressures on a substrate. Data is stored relating variation in removal profile on a front surface of the substrate to variation in the controllable parameters, the data including removal at a plurality of positions on the front surface of the substrate, there being a greater number of positions than chambers. A value is determined for each parameter of the plurality of controllable parameters to minimize a difference between a target removal profile and an expected removal profile calculated from the data relating variation in removal profile on a front surface of the substrate to variation in the parameters. The value for each parameter of the plurality of controllable parameters is stored.

A processing condition setting apparatus includes a controller that selects a parameter set to be applied to the wafer processing apparatus from a plurality of parameter sets. The controller estimates, for each of the parameter sets, the post-processing characteristics of the wafer to be processed, based on the pre-processing characteristics of the wafer to be processed and the processing data, assuming that the wafer to be processed has been processed by applying each of the parameter sets. The controller calculates two or more indicators for each of the post-processing characteristics and obtains constraints on the indicators. The controller selects a parameter set, which is to be applied to the wafer processing apparatus when processing the wafer to be processed, from among the conformed parameter sets in which the indicators satisfy the constraints.

A polishing machine is described in which a surface treatment tool is moved across the surface of a workpiece in accordance with a predefined tool-path, in order to carry out the desired treatment process. The tool-path is non-periodic and preferably pseudo-random. Various techniques are described for generating data representing the tool-path to be followed. A technique is also described for determining optimum control parameters used to control the polishing machine for a given tool-path. The surface treatment may be a shaping technique in which material is removed from the surface, or a technique for adding material to the surface of the workpiece, or a technique for modifying the surface or a region under the surface of the workpiece.

Processes for depositing SiO.sub.2 films on a wafer surface utilizing an aminosilane compound as a silicon precursor are described.

An information processing device generates a substrate processing schedule for sequentially performing respective processes on a predetermined number of substrates in a substrate processing device. The information processing device includes a substrate processing time acquisition part which acquires polishing time and finishing time based on recipe information; a transport processing time acquisition part which acquires transport time; and a schedule generation part which generates a substrate processing schedule by setting a processing order condition, a simultaneous processing condition, a transfer processing priority condition which specifies that a pre-polishing transfer process is prioritized over a post-polishing transfer process as constraint conditions for mathematical optimization, setting final processing end time for a final substrate being the shortest as an objective function of the mathematical optimization, and performing the mathematical optimization which determines start timings of the respective processes.