Appeal No. 2004-0999
Application No. 09/997,086
trenches as shown in Figs. 2-8, a single, wide trench 128 is
formed. The wide trench 128 should be wide enough to
eliminate any interaction of a wafer saw and the
interconnect layer 108 during the dicing of the
microelectronic device wafer. The elimination of any
interaction between the wafer saw and the interconnect layer
108 eliminates the potential of any defect being generated
in the interconnect layer 108 by the wafer saw. See
Appellants' specification, page 9, line 18 through page 10,
line 2. The single wide trench 128 may be formed by a laser
as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, by etching as shown in Figs. 11
and 12, or by any method of forming such a trench known in
the art. After the formation of the wide trench 128 and, if
an etching process is used, after the removal of the resist
material 122, a wafer saw is placed within the wide trench
128 and it cuts a channel 134 through the semiconductor
wafer 114 as shown in Figs. 13 and 14. See Appellants'
specification, page 10, lines 3-9.
Claim 1 is representative of the claimed invention and is
reproduced as follows:
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