With a recent shrinking
semiconductor process, insulating
layers formed between interconnect
layers are becoming thin. To avoid
parasitic capacitance between them, materials of a low
dielectric constant have been used for an insulating layer in a multilevel interconnect. Low-k materials, however, have low strength compared with the conventional insulating
layers. Porous low-k materials are structurally fragile. The invention therefore provides a manufacturing method of a
semiconductor device having a multilevel interconnect layer including a low-k layer. According to the method, in a two-step
cutting system dicing in which after formation of a groove in a
semiconductor water with a tapered blade, the groove is divided with a straight blade thinner than the
groove width, the multilevel interconnect layer portion is
cut while being covered with a tapered face and then the
wafer is separated with a thin blade which is not brought into contact with the multilevel interconnect layer portion. The
wafer can be diced without damaging a relatively fragile low-k layer.