Patent ID: 6921719

Claim:
A method of preparing a whole wafer of semiconductor material, having opposed front and back sides with respective surfaces and having at least one electronic device, comprising the steps of: covering the frontside of the wafer with a whole wafer frontside substrate; supporting the whole wafer with a whole wafer support coupled to the whole wafer frontside substrate, with the whole wafer frontside substrate protecting said at least one electronic device; said whole wafer including a whole wafer substrate having an initial thickness and which includes said whole wafer backside; thinning the whole wafer substrate, reducing its thickness to expose a new whole wafer backside surface at the backside of the whole wafer; strengthening and rigidifying at least a portion of the new whole wafer backside surface to strengthen and rigidify at least a portion of the whole wafer; and removing the whole wafer frontside substrate, exposing said a least one electronic device while maintaining the strengthening and rigidifying of at least the portion of the new whole wafer backside surface to strengthen and rigidify at least the portion of the whole wafer.