Laser dicing apparatus and dicing method

A laser dicing apparatus which forms a reformed region in a wafer by irradiating the wafer with a laser beam, the laser dicing apparatus comprising:

• a laser beam radiating section that radiates the laser beam;
• a light condensing section that condenses the laser beam radiated from the laser beam radiating section;
• a surface information acquisition section that acquires unevenness information of the surface of the wafer based on the laser beam radiated by the laser beam radiating section;
• a condensing-point position adjustment section that adjusts the position of the condensing point of the laser beam by moving the light condensing section in a wafer thickness direction;
• a first control section that controls the condensing-point position adjustment section based on the unevenness information acquired by the surface information acquisition section;
• a second control section that controls the condensing-point position adjustment section so as to maintain the position of the light condensing section in the wafer thickness direction constant;
• a laser beam moving section that moves the laser beam relatively with respect to the wafer;
• and
• a control-section selecting section that selects one of the first control section and the second control section in accordance with the position of the laser beam on the wafer, the laser beam being moved by the laser beam moving section.