Semiconductor substrate and method of dicing the same

Abstract

There is provided a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer, which includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of integrated circuit regions on an active surface of the semiconductor substrate, a dicing regions provided between adjacent integrated circuit regions of the plurality of integrated circuit regions, and a metal shield layer provided on the active surface across at least a portion of the adjacent integrated circuit regions and the dicing region, forming a modified layer by irradiating laser to an inside of the semiconductor substrate along the dicing region, propagating a crack from the modified layer in a direction perpendicular to a major-axial direction of the metal shield layer by polishing an inactive surface opposing the active surface of the semiconductor substrate and forming semiconductor chips by separating the adjacent integrated circuit regions, respectively, based on the crack propagating from the modified layer.