buffer regions 123 are created such that the laser beam used to create the via by ablating the passivation material doesn 39 t cause localized heating and subsequent damage of the thin encapsulant close to the via opening according to one embodiment opposing walls of the final via opening 122 formed according to the laser masking ablation process have an angle being less than 90 degrees with respect to the at least one capping layer and the opposing walls are uniform with respect to one another according to at least one embodiment opposing buffer regions 123 are formed in the passivation layer 116 as further illustrated in fig6 the buffer regions 123 are formed for example by performing a laser masking ablation process that uses a mask e g an aluminum quartz mask the mask not shown includes a pattern configured to form a desired fv opening e g fv opening 122 in the passivation layer 116 the mask may include a solid portion that covers a portion of the passivation layer 116 extending between respective patterned edges of the encapsulant layer 118 to the edge of the fv opening 122 the covered portion therefore defines the formed buffer regions 123 the buffer regions 123 may have a length ranging from for example approximately 2 nm to approximately 3 nm referring now to fig7 a second via etching process is performed which removes the cap film 104 exposed by.