Patent ID: 7585204

Claim:
A method for polishing a surface of a substrate using a polishing apparatus comprising: a table, on a surface of which a polishing member is fixed; a substrate support member for pressing the substrate onto a surface of the polishing member; an optical system for irradiating a surface of the substrate to be polished with a light of irradiation through a through-hole disposed in the polishing member and for receiving a reflected light reflected from the surface of the substrate, and a monitoring device for monitoring a status of polishing of the substrate, the method comprising the steps of: feeding a translucent liquid into the through-hole disposed in the polishing member; irradiating the surface of the substrate to be polished with the light of irradiation through the through-hole; receiving the reflected light reflected from the surface of the substrate to be polished; and monitoring a status of a film thickness of a thin film on the surface of the substrate to be polished on the basis of an analysis of the reflected light, wherein the translucent liquid in the through-hole has a perpendicular flow roughly perpendicular to the surface of the substrate to be polished, the light of irradiation reaches the surface of the substrate through the perpendicular flow of the translucent liquid, and the reflected light reaches a light receiving part of the optical system through the perpendicular flow of the translucent liquid.