Patent ID: 8357556

Claim:
A method of protecting a semiconductor device from damage comprising: providing a semiconductor wafer; providing a plurality of active semiconductor devices on the surface of the wafer wherein each active semiconductor device is separated from other active semiconductor devices by an inactive semiconductor area that does not include an active semiconductor device; providing a metallic guard element around at least a portion of a periphery of each active semiconductor device in the inactive semiconductor area wherein each metallic guard element extends outward from the surface of the wafer a greater distance than the active semiconductor device to protect the active semiconductor device from mechanical damage caused by a pick and place tool and is connected to ground potential and not to the active semiconductor device, each metallic guard element being softer than the semiconductor wafer; separating the wafer into a plurality of die wherein each die of the plurality of die contains one of the plurality of active semiconductor devices and the corresponding metallic guard element; and removing one of the plurality of dies from the wafer using a pick and place tool such that mechanical damage caused by the pick and place tool appears as a mark in one of the metallic guard elements and static electricity from the pick and place tool is dissipated to ground potential through one of the metallic guard elements.