| 摘要 |
<p>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a polishing apparatus which detects the front and rear surfaces at a stage, before a wafer is placed on a chuck table and prevents polishing failures beforehand, when a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer or the like is polished. SOLUTION: A protective tape is stuck on a surface (circuit surface) of a semiconductor wafer to be polished. Presence of this protective tape is detected by front/rear detecting means 5 disposed in carrying means to identify the front or rear surface of the semiconductor wafer. Therefore, even if the semiconductor wafer is housed incorrectly in a cassette of the front/rear directions, the wafer is carried correctly to a chuck table by checking the direction by the front/rearface detecting means 5. Thus, polishing of a surface side on which a circuit is formed can be prevented beforehand. As the front/rear detecting means 5, sensors detecting color, concentration, reflectance, hardness and the like can be applied.</p> |
