Patent ID: 7989803

Claim:
A manufacturing method for semiconductor chips, the method comprising: providing a semiconductor wafer having a first surface and a second surface, the second surface being disposed opposite to the first surface, wherein the semiconductor wafer includes a plurality of device-formation regions on the first surface and a plurality of dividing regions on the first surface, the dividing regions dividing the device-formation regions from each other, wherein the dividing regions include region-width-reduced portions and a TEG-placement portion, the region-width-reduced portions having widths smaller than a width of the TEG-placement portion; forming a semiconductor device on the first surface of the semiconductor wafer in each of the device-formation regions; forming a TEG on the first surface of the semiconductor wafer in the TEG-placement portion; sticking a protective sheet onto the first surface of the semiconductor device such that the protective sheet contacts the TEG; placing a mask on the second surface of the semiconductor wafer so as to define the diving regions on the second surface; performing plasma etching on the second surface of the semiconductor wafer with the protective sheet stuck to the first surface of the semiconductor wafer and the mask placed on the second surface of the semiconductor wafer such that the portions of the semiconductor wafer in the dividing regions are removed and the TEG remains stuck to the protective sheet, and such that the device-formation-regions are divided from each other to form semiconductor chips, each of the semiconductor chips including one of the semiconductor devices; and after said plasma etching operation is performed, removing the TEG by peeling off the protective sheet from the semiconductor chips, the TEG being stuck to the protective sheet.