the lower surface of the holding plate 9 a on the lower surface of the holding plate 9 a there is bonded a resilient pad 132 which includes a plurality of through holes corresponding to the through holes 135 formed in the holding plate 9 a as such the fluid pressure in the gap g can be applied to the upper surface of a wafer placed on the lower surface of the resilient pad 132 further as shown in fig1 the lower end portion of the retainer ring 10 is made thin in its radial direction so as to make it possible for the pressing ring 133 or the first ring element 133 a thereof to be placed closer to the periphery of the wafer 3 held by the wafer carrier with reference to fig1 and 13 there is shown a fourth embodiment of a polishing apparatus with the attitude controller 11 as described above in connection with the other embodiments this polishing apparatus is substantially the same as that shown in fig9 and 11 except for the bearing supporting the pressing ring 133 on the wafer carrier 6 in this polishing apparatus the bearing consists of two kinds of bearings 138 and 139 the bearing 138 is a conventional radial bearing.