Method for compensation of variability in chemical mechanical polishing consumables

1. A method for polishing a substrate, comprising:

performing a pre-polish process in the absence of a substrate, the pre-polish process including urging a conditioner disk against a polishing surface of a polishing pad disposed in a polishing station, the pre-polish process comprising:

moving the conditioner disk relative to the polishing pad in a sweep pattern across the polishing surface while monitoring a rotational force value required to move the conditioner disk relative to the polishing pad;

determining a metric indicative of an interaction between the conditioner disk and the polishing surface from the rotational force value; and

adjusting a polishing recipe to obtain a predefined material removal rate from the substrate in response to the metric; and

polishing one or more substrates using the adjusted polishing recipe.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metric is a frictional force value.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the rotational force value comprises sensing a torque value required to rotate a shaft coupled to the conditioner disk.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein monitoring the rotational force value comprises sensing a torque value required to rotate the conditioner disk relative to the polishing pad.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein monitoring the rotational force value comprises sensing a torque value required to move the conditioner disk in the sweep pattern.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metric comprises a measured torque value.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the polishing comprises:

monitoring the rotational force value during the polishing of the one or more substrates; and

comparing the monitored torque value with a target torque value.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

adjusting a down-force of the conditioning disk in response to a difference between the measured torque value and the target torque value.

9. A method for polishing a substrate, comprising:

performing a pre-polish process in the absence of a substrate, the pre-polish process including urging a conditioner disk against a polishing surface of a polishing pad disposed in a polishing station, the pre-polish process comprising:

moving the conditioner disk relative to the polishing pad while monitoring a rotational force value required to move the conditioner disk relative to the polishing surface;

determining a first torque metric indicative of an interaction between the conditioner disk and the polishing surface from the rotational force value; and

adjusting a polishing recipe to obtain a predefined material removal rate from the substrate in response to the first torque metric; and

performing a polishing process, comprising:

polishing one or more substrates using the adjusted polishing recipe;

conditioning the polishing surface of the polishing pad while monitoring the rotational force value required to move the conditioner disk relative to the polishing surface to determine a second torque metric; and

adjusting one or more conditioning parameters when the second torque metric is different than a target torque metric.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first torque metric and the second torque metric is a frictional force value.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein monitoring the rotational force value comprises sensing a torque value required to rotate a shaft coupled to the conditioner disk.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein monitoring the rotational force value comprises sensing a torque value required to rotate the conditioner disk relative to the polishing pad.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein monitoring the rotational force value comprises sensing a torque value required to move the conditioner disk in a sweep pattern.