Patent ID: 8165710

Claim:
A polishing method comprising: a substrate storing step of storing a plurality of substrates in a cassette; a pre-polishing film thickness measurement step of taking an unpolished substrate requiring pre-polishing film thickness measurement out of the cassette before polishing and measuring a thickness of a pre-polishing film of the unpolished substrate with a film thickness measurement device, the unpolished substrate being one of the substrates stored in the cassette: a pre-polishing substrate withdrawal step of returning the unpolished substrate after the pre-polishing film thickness measurement to the cassette; a polishing step of taking a selected substrate out of the cassette and polishing the selected substrate, the selected substrate being one of the substrates stored in the cassette, the substrates stored in the cassette including the unpolished substrate which has undergone the pre-polishing film thickness measurement step and then been returned to the cassette; a cleaning/drying step of cleaning and drying the selected substrate after polishing; a post-polishing substrate withdrawal step of returning the selected substrate to the cassette after cleaning/drying; and a post-polishing film thickness measurement step of taking a post-polished substrate requiring post-polishing film thickness measurement out of the cassette and measuring a thickness of a post-polished film of the post-polished substrate with the film thickness measurement device, the post-polished substrate being one of the substrates stored in the cassette.