An autocollimator is relied upon to orient an electronic die such that its frontside is parallel to a polishing surface. The polishing device is configured such that a beam of light that is projected by the autocollimator is able to reflect off of the backside surface of the die. Measurement off of the backside surface allows the die's parallelism relative to the polishing surface to be established without removing the die from the polishing surface and allows the die's orientation to be monitored and adjusted while the frontside is being deprocessed.