damage to the wafer 10 as illustrated in fig9 after thinning the wafer 10 an optional support layer 25 including openings for exposing the lower surfaces of the connection vias 19 may be formed on the backside of the wafer using an insulating material or materials when present the support layer 25 is preferably selected to improve the strength and or handling characteristics of the wafer 10 and also to reduce the likelihood that the thinned wafer will warp the support layer pattern 25 may be temporary or permanent with adhesive tapes and polyimide films being useful as temporary support layer patterns next as illustrated in fig1 the wafer 10 is separated into its individual chips by cutting or sawing through a central region of the scribe lanes s of the thinned wafer using a cutting implement 29 the sawing operation is conducted so as not to damage or expose the connection vias 19 disposed in the opposed peripheral regions s 1 and s 2 of each scribe lane s thus after the sawing operation is completed each of the separated chips 11 will include along its periphery a plurality of connection vias 19 in the remaining peripheral region s 1 s 2 of the scribe lane s the sawing operation is preferably controlled to limit or avoid removal or the.