A method for fabricating a vertical integrated circuit, the method comprising: (a) providing a vertically integrated wafer stack of two or more wafers (110, 120, 120.1-120.6), at least two of said wafers being semiconductor wafers comprising each an integrated circuit, and at least one of said wafers is an end structure of the stack, wherein each wafer comprises one or more contacts (150B, 210, 420), wherein every two adjacent wafers have at least some of their contacts directly attached to each other, wherein said end structure wafer comprises a first side and a second side, the second side not being attached to any other one of said wafers; wherein said one or more contacts of the end structure wafer comprise one or more first contacts, and said providing the vertically integrated wafer stack comprises: forming one or more vias in the first side of the end structure wafer, each via extending into the end structure wafer; forming a dielectric layer over the first side of the end structure wafer; forming each first contact over the dielectric layer in a respective one of the vias so that each first contact is not exposed on the second side of the end structure wafer, forming each first contact including depositing metal directly on the dielectric layer, said metal not being directly in contact with the semiconductor material of said end structure wafer; and directly attaching one or more contacts of another one of said wafers to one or more contacts of the end structure wafer which are located on the first side of the end structure wafer thereby forming the wafer stack; the method being characterized by: (b) processing the second side of the end structure wafer of the wafer stack with a blanket process comprising blanket removal of material from the second side by etching, wherein during etching the dielectric material of the dielectric layer is etched slower than the semiconductor material of the end structure wafer, wherein said etching comprises removal of semiconductor material of the end structure wafer and, upon exposure of the dielectric layer, removal of both the semiconductor material and dielectric material of the dielectric layer to expose a metal portion of each first contact and cause the metal portion of each first contact to protrude from the end structure wafer and the dielectric layer. (a) providing a vertically integrated wafer stack of two or more wafers (110, 120, 120.1-120.6), at least two of said wafers being semiconductor wafers comprising each an integrated circuit, and at least one of said wafers is an end structure of the stack, wherein each wafer comprises one or more contacts (150B, 210, 420), wherein every two adjacent wafers have at least some of their contacts directly attached to each other, wherein said end structure wafer comprises a first side and a second side, the second side not being attached to any other one of said wafers; wherein said one or more contacts of the end structure wafer comprise one or more first contacts, and said providing the vertically integrated wafer stack comprises: forming one or more vias in the first side of the end structure wafer, each via extending into the end structure wafer; forming a dielectric layer over the first side of the end structure wafer; forming each first contact over the dielectric layer in a respective one of the vias so that each first contact is not exposed on the second side of the end structure wafer, forming each first contact including depositing metal directly on the dielectric layer, said metal not being directly in contact with the semiconductor material of said end structure wafer; and directly attaching one or more contacts of another one of said wafers to one or more contacts of the end structure wafer which are located on the first side of the end structure wafer thereby forming the wafer stack; forming one or more vias in the first side of the end structure wafer, each via extending into the end structure wafer; forming a dielectric layer over the first side of the end structure wafer; forming each first contact over the dielectric layer in a respective one of the vias so that each first contact is not exposed on the second side of the end structure wafer, forming each first contact including depositing metal directly on the dielectric layer, said metal not being directly in contact with the semiconductor material of said end structure wafer; and directly attaching one or more contacts of another one of said wafers to one or more contacts of the end structure wafer which are located on the first side of the end structure wafer thereby forming the wafer stack; (b) processing the second side of the end structure wafer of the wafer stack with a blanket process comprising blanket removal of material from the second side by etching, wherein during etching the dielectric material of the dielectric layer is etched slower than the semiconductor material of the end structure wafer, wherein said etching comprises removal of semiconductor material of the end structure wafer and, upon exposure of the dielectric layer, removal of both the semiconductor material and dielectric material of the dielectric layer to expose a metal portion of each first contact and cause the metal portion of each first contact to protrude from the end structure wafer and the dielectric layer.