A tape is stuck to the front surface of a workpiece in such a manner that the direction in which the stretch rate becomes the lowest when a predetermined force is applied to the tape is non-parallel to each of multiple planned dividing lines extending in a lattice manner. In this case, each of the multiple planned dividing lines does not extend along the direction perpendicular to this direction. This can reduce the ratio of the region to which the tape does not stick in the front surface of the workpiece in the vicinity of the boundary between each of the multiple planned dividing lines and a region in which a device is formed and suppress deterioration of the processing quality when the workpiece is divided from the back surface side by a cutting blade.

An outer circumferential region of a metal film and a portion of an outer circumferential region of a substrate on a reverse side thereof are removed, thereby exposing the outer circumferential region of the substrate and creating on a reverse side of an outer circumferential region of the wafer an exposed surface where a portion closer to a face side of a wafer is located outwardly of a portion remoter from the face side of the wafer. When a tape is affixed to a reverse side of the wafer, no gap or a reduced gap is formed between the tape and the outer circumferential region of the wafer. As a result, problems are restrained from occurring when the wafer is divided to manufacture chips therefrom.

A wafer has a device area on one side with a plurality of devices partitioned by a plurality of division lines. Either side of the wafer is attached to an adhesive tape supported by a first annular frame. A modified region is formed in the wafer along the division lines by a laser. The wafer is placed on a support member whose outer diameter is smaller than an inner diameter of the first annular frame. After applying the laser beam, the adhesive tape is expanded thereby dividing the wafer along the division lines. A second annular frame is attached to a portion of the expanded adhesive tape. An inner diameter of the second annular frame is smaller than the outer diameter of the support member and smaller than the inner diameter of the first annular frame.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device can include providing an integrated circuit electrically coupled to a metallization pad on a semiconductor wafer, the integrated circuit and the metallization pad covered by a cap structure. A channel can be cut in a portion of the cap structure that covers the metallization pad using a cutting tool having a tip surface and a beveled side surface to expose an upper surface of the metallization pad in the channel extending in a first direction and a conductive material can be deposited in the channel to ohmically contact the upper surface of the metallization pad in the channel.

A workpiece management method includes a frame unit forming step of forming a frame unit with a workpiece supported in an opening of an annular frame via a resin sheet, a printing step of, after performing the frame unit forming step, printing identification information of the workpiece on the resin sheet in an area between an outer periphery of the workpiece and an inner periphery of the annular frame, a processing step of processing the workpiece by a processing machine, a separation step of separating the processed workpiece from the resin sheet, and a storage step of storing the resin sheet from which the workpiece has been separated. A sheet cutting machine suitable for use in the workpiece management method is also disclosed.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device can include providing an integrated circuit electrically coupled to a metallization pad on a semiconductor wafer, the integrated circuit and the metallization pad covered by a cap structure. A channel can be cut in a portion of the cap structure that covers the metallization pad using a cutting tool having a tip surface and a beveled side surface to expose an upper surface of the metallization pad in the channel extending in a first direction and a conductive material can be deposited in the channel to ohmically contact the upper surface of the metallization pad in the channel.

A method of processing a SiC ingot includes a resistance value measuring step of measuring an electric resistance value of an end face of the SiC ingot, a laser beam output adjusting step of adjusting the output of a laser beam according to the electric resistance value measured in the resistance value measuring step, and a peeling belt forming step in which, while a laser beam of such a wavelength as to be transmitted through the SiC ingot is being applied to the SiC ingot with a focal point of the laser beam positioned at a depth corresponding to the thickness of a wafer to be formed, the SiC ingot and the focal point are put into relative processing feeding in an X-axis direction to form a belt-shaped peeling belt in the inside of the SiC ingot.

A dividing device divides a wafer from an ingot by slicing the ingot by using a dividing layer which is formed by relatively moving a laser beam to a predetermined depth of the ingot from one of both end faces of the ingot. The dividing device for a wafer includes: first fixing part that fixes the other of the both end faces of the ingot; second fixing part that is arranged on a first central axis line of the ingot so as to face the first fixing part and fixes the one of the both end faces of the ingot; and tension part that apply a tensile force to the ingot via the first and second fixing parts. The tension part rotates one end of the dividing layer with another end as a fulcrum so as to generate moments for slicing the ingot with the dividing layer as a boundary.

A dividing apparatus divides a workpiece along projected dicing lines into chips, the workpiece being stuck to an upper surface of a protective tape mounted on an annular frame. The dividing apparatus includes a frame holding unit for holding the annular frame and a dividing unit for pressing the workpiece in the vicinity of one at a time of the projected dicing lines and dividing the workpiece into chips along the projected dicing line. The dividing unit includes a holder for holding a portion of the workpiece in the vicinity of the projected dicing line where the workpiece is to be broken, from both upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece, and a presser for pressing chips next to chips held by the holder across the projected dicing line where the workpiece is to be broken, thereby to divide the workpiece along the projected dicing line.

There is provided a processing method for a package substrate having a plurality of division lines formed on the front side. The processing method includes the steps of holding the back side of the package substrate by using a holding tape and fully cutting the package substrate along the division lines to such a depth corresponding to the middle of the thickness of the holding tape by using a profile grinding tool, thereby dividing the package substrate into individual semiconductor packages. The profile grinding tool has a plurality of projections for cutting the package substrate respectively along the plural division lines. Each projection has an inclined side surface.