Appeal No. 2004-1357
Application 09/587,281
DISCUSSION
Nishida pertains to “a semiconductor wafer rear surface
grinding method where a protecting tape is stuck on a
semiconductor device forming surface of a semiconductor wafer and
the rear surface is ground” (translation, page 1). Figures 2A
and 2B illustrate a “conventional” process step wherein a
protecting tape 5 which has been applied to one surface of a
wafer 4 is cut along the periphery of the wafer by a cutter edge
2. Nishida teaches that “[t]he cutter edge 2 is inclined to the
outside and touches the outer periphery of the wafer 4. If the
protecting tape 5 is cut in this state, the protecting tape is
cut at a position a little inside than the wafer peripheral edge”
(translation, page 3, paragraph [0012]). In the same vein,
Nishida states that “[a]s shown in Figure 2, when the protecting
tape is cut by the conventional method, the protecting tape is
cut at a position a little inside than the wafer peripheral edge.
That is, the wafer peripheral edge protrudes form the peripheral
edge of the protecting tape” (translation, pages 3 and 4,
paragraph [0013]). Figure 2 shows that the wafer has a level
upper surface and a chamfered peripheral edge, and that the
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