Patent ID: 7230680

Claim:
A wafer flatness evaluation method comprising: measuring front and rear surface shapes of a wafer; and dividing the front surface of the wafer into sites, selecting a flatness calculating method according to a position of the site to be evaluated and acquiring flatness in the wafer surface, the flatness calculating method being selected according to whether the site to be evaluated is a partial site or a full site, wherein a first calculating method is selected for calculating flatness based on thickness distribution obtained when it is assumed that the wafer is completely chucked on an ideal plane by use of measurement values of the front and rear surface shapes of the wafer, while the site to be evaluated is the full site, and a second calculating method is selected for calculating flatness based on front surface shape distribution of the wafer obtained when the wafer is mounted on a wafer holder, while the site to be evaluated is the partial site.