To better understand the variation of material removal rate on a wafer during chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), knowledge of the stress distribution on the wafer surface is required. The difference in wafer-surf ace stress distributions could be considerable depending on whether or not the wafer hydroplanes during polishing. This study analyzes the fluid film between the wafer and pad and demonstrates that hydroplaning is possible for standard CMP processes. The importance of wafer curvature, slurry viscosity, and rotation speed on the thickness of the fluid film is also demonstrated.