Patent ID: 8109185

Claim:
A protective tape cutting method for a semiconductor wafer, for relatively moving a cutter blade along an outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer formed with a positioning notch to cut out a protective tape joined to a surface of the semiconductor wafer along an outer shape of the wafer, the method comprising the step of: cutting the protective tape at a notch portion of the semiconductor wafer, wherein the protective tape is cut while laying a side surface of the cutter blade along an oblique side of the notch towards a deep part of the notch from an open end; and wherein the cutting step comprises: a first part cut-in step of moving the cutter blade towards the deep part of the notch from one open end of the notch while being moved in a constant direction with respect to the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer; a removing step of removing once from the notch the cutter blade cut-in in the first part cut-in step; and a latter part cut-in step of moving the cutter blade, which is once removed from the notch and retreated to an initial piercing position, towards the deep part of the notch from another open end of the notch while being moved in a reverse direction with respect to the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer.