Semiconductor wafer processing method

Disclosed is a semiconductor wafer processing method wherein, firstly, a thin disc-like wafer is manufactured by slicing a semiconductor single crystal ingot (slicing step), then, a planarized coating layer is formed by applying a curable material to the whole first surface of the wafer (coating layer forming step), and then the coating layer is cured (coating layer curing step). Next, a wafer second surface on the reverse side of the first surface is flatly ground by means of a grinding apparatus, then, the coating layer is removed from the first surface of the wafer. Furthermore, the first surface of the wafer is flatly ground by means of the grinding apparatus. The surface height of the first surface of the wafer after the slicing step and before the coating layer forming step is subjected to frequency analysis, and when the amplitude of the surface waving of the first surface of the wafer in a wavelength region of 10-100 mm is equal to or more than 0.5 μm, the coating layer forming step and the coating layer curing step are repeated a plurality of times.