A method and structure for cutting semiconductor chips from a wafer (dicing).
For
each chip of the wafer, a laser beam is used to cut around the chip along a plurality
of straight-line cut segments such that the formed corners of the chip after cutting
are all greater than 90. As a result, the stress at these corners are much
less than that of prior art chips, especially during packaging step. In one embodiment,
the laser beam is used to cut along only straight-line cut segments not on any
chip boundary line, and a saw blade is used to cut along all the chip boundary lines.
