Patent ID: 8195324

Claim:
A probe polishing method for polishing probes by bringing a polishing member into slide-contact with the probes through a mounting table having thereon the polishing member transferred from a first receiving part, the probe polishing method comprising: transferring the polishing member from the first receiving part of a loader chamber to the mounting table of a prober chamber by a wafer transfer mechanism; detecting a presence of foreign materials on a top surface of the polishing member mounted on the mounting table; transferring the polishing member by the wafer transfer mechanism from the mounting table to a second receiving part of the loader chamber when the foreign materials are detected on the top surface of the polishing member; using an optical sensor to identify that the polishing member with the foreign materials is received on the second receiving part; unloading the polishing member from the second receiving part by an operator to remove the foreign materials on the polishing member; returning the polishing member to the second receiving part by the operator; and transferring the polishing member from which the foreign materials are removed from the second receiving part to the first receiving part by the transfer wafer mechanism.