Patent ID: 6852608

Claim:
A method for dividing a semiconductor wafer into separate chips, said semiconductor wafer having a plurality of chips defined by crossing streets on its front side, said method comprising: applying the semiconductor wafer to a support disk via an intervening adhesive layer with the front side of the semiconductor wafer facing the adhesive layer, which is sensitive to a certain exterior factor for reducing its adhesive force, thereby performing a wafer and support disk combining step; holding fixedly the wafer-and-support disk combination on a selected chuck table of a wafer grinding machine to grind the semiconductor wafer on the rear side, thereby performing a grinding step; applying the wafer-and-support disk combination to an adhesive tape for dicing with the so ground rear side facing the adhesive tape, which tape is surrounded and supported by the circumference by a dicing frame, thereby performing a taping step; effecting the certain exterior factor on the intervening adhesive layer to reduce its adhesive force before or after the taping step, and removing the intervening adhesive layer and support disk from the front side of the semiconductor wafer after the taping step, thereby performing a tape-removing step; and holding the wafer-and-frame combination on the chuck table of a dicing machine to cut and separate the semiconductor wafer into individual chips, thereby performing a dicing step; wherein the wafer-and-support disk combining step includes using, a support disk larger than the semiconductor wafer, and the grinding step includes putting two probes on the semiconductor wafer and the marginal portion of the support disk, thereby grinding the semiconductor wafer while measuring the remaining thickness of the semiconductor wafer.