Substrate polishing apparatus and method

1. A substrate polishing apparatus comprising:

a top ring for pressing a substrate against a polishing pad to perform substrate polishing;

a phototransmitter arranged to direct light onto a surface of the substrate;

a photoreceptor arranged to receive the light reflected from the surface of the substrate, and a processor configured to calculate a reflectivity spectrum corresponding to the wavelength of the reflected light received from a spectroscope in communication with the photoreceptor;

a memory that stores a plurality of thickness estimating algorithms for estimating a thickness of a polished surface in accordance with the reflectivity spectrum;

a controller configured to select a first thickness estimating algorithm and a second thickness estimating algorithm among the plurality of thickness estimating algorithms stored in the memory, and set a switching condition; and

the controller further configured to estimate the thickness of the polished surface during polishing based on the reflectivity spectrum calculated by the processor by using the first and the second thickness estimating algorithms, and configured to switch the thickness estimating algorithm from the first thickness estimating algorithm to the second thickness estimating algorithm to be used for determining polishing end when the set switching condition is satisfied.

2. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to output a control signal indicating an end of the substrate polishing when the estimated thickness of the polished surface reaches a predetermined target value.

3. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching condition is that the estimated thickness of the polished surface by use of the first thickness estimating algorithm reaches a set value.

4. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching condition is that a difference between the thicknesses estimated using the first and second thickness estimating algorithms is below a predetermined value.

5. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein before the thickness estimating algorithm to be used for determining polishing end is switched, the thickness of the polished surface is estimated through a weighting function using the first and second thickness estimating algorithms.

6. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first thickness estimating algorithm is a first algorithm that estimates the thickness of the polished surface by using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the second thickness estimating algorithm is a second algorithm that estimates the thickness of the polished surface by using reference spectrums (Fitting Error).

7. A substrate polishing method for pressing a substrate against a polishing pad to perform substrate polishing, comprising the steps of:

directing light onto a surface of the substrate of interest for polishing, receiving reflected light, and calculating a reflectivity spectrum corresponding to the wavelength of the reflected light;

selecting a first thickness estimating algorithm and a second thickness estimating algorithm by using a storage that stores a plurality of thickness estimating algorithms for estimating a thickness of a polished surface in accordance with the reflectivity spectrum, and setting a switching condition; and

estimating the thickness of the polished surface during polishing based on the reflectivity spectrum calculated by a processor by using the first and the second thickness estimating algorithms, and when the switching condition is satisfied, automatically switching the thickness estimating algorithm from the first thickness estimating algorithm to the second thickness estimating algorithm to be used for determining polishing end.