Method for raising polishing pad and polishing method

A method for polishing a silicon wafer by using a polishing pad, wherein

• a polishing pad made of foamed urethane resin is attached to a polishing machine,
• after dressing is performed, dummy polishing is performed,
• after processing to remove polishing residues that have built up in the polishing pad by the dummy polishing is then performed, an amount of polishing residues in the polishing pad is measured,
• a polishing pad that is used in polishing of the silicon wafer is selected based on the measured amount of polishing residues, and
• polishing of the silicon wafer is performed by using the selected polishing pad, and wherein
• the selection is made as follows:
• by performing polishing of a silicon wafer by using a reference polishing pad made of foamed urethane resin separately subjected only to dressing, processing to remove polishing residues which is performed by the same means as that used in the removal processing after the dummy polishing, and measurement of an amount of polishing residues after the removal processing, the amount of polishing residues in the reference polishing pad at a point in time at which a value of, i.e., an amount of time the reference polishing pad was used÷a previously set life of the reference polishing pad, is 0.05 is determined as a reference value in advance, and
• a polishing pad whose amount of polishing residues measured after the dummy polishing and the removal processing is greater than or equal to the reference value is selected as a polishing pad that is used in polishing of the silicon wafer.