A metal plate includes a machining subject surface. The metal plate includes a first holding portion designed to be held by a chuck and a second holding portion located at a position separated from the first holding portion and designed to be held by the chuck. The method for manufacturing the metal plate includes performing reference surface machining that machines a surface of the second holding portion that is to be held by the chuck into a predetermined shape in a state in which the first holding portion is held by the chuck. The method includes releasing the first holding portion from the chuck and holding the second holding portion with the chuck. The method also includes machining the machining subject surface in a state in which the second holding portion is held by the chuck.

In a deterministic setting for finishing the support surface of a chuck such as a wafer chuck, the treatment tool may have a contacting surface shaped as a ring, annulus, or toroid, or at least such will be the form of contact when the treatment tool is brought into contact with a flat surface. The treatment tool may have about the same hardness as the work piece (e.g., the wafer chuck) that is being finished. In one embodiment, the treatment tool, or at least the flat contacting surface, is made from silicon carbide (SiC), or contains SiC, for example, in the form of a composite material such as reaction-bonded SiC.

A method of supporting a workpiece on a fixture, the workpiece having a first surface and an opposite second surface, and an aperture positioned at a center of the first surface and extending from the first surface to the second surface the fixture having a first end, an opposite second end, and a center portion, the center portion comprising a supporting surface, the second end being adapted to be mounted in a lathe, the supporting surface comprising an annular recess, the annular recess accommodating a supporting medium, the second surface of the workpiece being in intimate contact with the supporting medium, the method comprising the steps of: (i) mounting the fixture in the lathe; (ii) locating the aperture on the first end of the fixture; and (iii) securing the workpiece on the fixture, with the second surface of the workpiece being coplanar with the supporting surface of the fixture.