This study extends the application of a previously presented flash heating removal rate model to a series of interlayer dielectric ͑ILD͒ chemical mechanical planarization ͑CMP͒ experiments using Freudenberg XY and perforated groove pads along with Fujimi PL-4217 fumed silica slurry. Polishing tests were conducted at platen temperatures ranging from approximately 24 to 45°C. Application of the model indicates its versatility when using different tool sets, pad types, and slurry chemistries compared to those originally used to develop the model. The flash heating removal rate model was shown to predict experimental data from this study by an average root mean square ͑rms͒ error of 164 Å/min. When compared to the traditional Preston model, which predicted the data by an average rms of 300 Å/min, the flash heating model provides better predictive accuracy and enables one to predict previously assumed scatter associated with removal rate in a systematic and comprehensible manner.Since the development of chemical mechanical planarization ͑CMP͒ in the 1960s, the ability to appropriately model material removal rate has taken several positive steps. Preston's initial observation that material removal during glass polishing was proportional to the pressure and velocity of the process has long been the basis for a majority of the physical models used to predict removal rate in CMP. 1 Models presented by Zhang and Busnaina as well as Tseng and Wang have both attempted to advance the capabilities of determining removal rate data, however each have their own respective shortcomings. 2,3 These downfalls primarily come from the simple fact that experimental removal rate results from CMP often indicate signs of scatter. In this situation, removal rate scatter is defined as any deviation from an average value for a single process condition. Past studies have often neglected the effects of removal rate scatter as an artifact of inconsistencies associated with the CMP tool or the consumables used. Using this assumption, removal rate models have had relative success at achieving the goal of predicting these trends.In an attempt to qualify and compare a series of removal rate models, Stein and Hetherington evaluated series removal rate data acquired from a set of interlayer dielectric ͑ILD͒ polishes on a Speedfam IPEC-472 platform with Rohm and Haas IC-1400 K-groove pad and Cabot SS-12 fumed silica slurry. 4 In their work, the removal rate data taken as the basis for the comparison appeared to be Prestonian, albeit with a discernable amount of scatter ͑ranging anywhere from approximately 1800 to 30 Å/min for a single pressure and velocity condition͒, which was assumed to be an artifact of intricacies involved in the polishing process ͑i.e., slight changes in flow rate, conditioning mechanisms, and pressure͒. When the removal rate data presented by Stein and Hetherington are grouped according to sliding velocity, distinct trends in the removal rate can be seen with increasing pressure ͑see Fig. 1͒. This suggests that what at first appe...