Abstract: A improved dresser for dressing a polishing surface, easily be manufactured such that an object to be polished is not scratched when the object is polished. The dresser can dress the polishing surface of a polishing apparatus to effect surface correction and to correct a time-lapse change due to a polishing operation, a number of spired projections are formed on a surface of a metallic substrate and a wear-resistant hard film is formed on at least a portion of the surface of the metallic substrate on which the projections are formed.

Abstract: A predetermined amount of liquid such as water is supplied to a backside surface of a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer. Such liquid is a workpiece retaining liquid and is attached to a concave workpiece holding surface of a top ring. The workpiece is positioned between a turntable and the top ring and is polished by an abrasive cloth on the turntable while the workpiece is being pressed against the turntable by the top ring. While polishing, the workpiece is deformed toward the concave workpiece holding surface of the top ring, and a curvature of the deformed workpiece is controlled by the amount of liquid between the workpiece holding surface and the backside surface of the workpiece.