Patent ID: 7838331

Claim:
A method for processing a wafer comprising: dividing the wafer into multiple chips; and covering a sidewall of each chip with a protection member for protecting the chip from being contaminated by a dust from a dicing surface of the wafer; forming a reforming portion in the wafer along with a cutting line of the wafer in such a manner that a laser beam is focused on a predetermined position in the wafer to form the reforming portion around the predetermined position in the wafer by multiple photo absorption effect of the laser beam; and forming the protection member on a part of the wafer, which covers the cutting line, wherein in the dividing the wafer, the wafer is cleaved from the reforming portion as a starting point so that the wafer is divided along with the cutting line, in the dividing the wafer, the protection member on the part of the wafer is melted, and in the covering the sidewall of each chip, the melted protection member spreads on the dicing surface of the wafer so that the protection member covers the sidewall of the chip.