Semiconductor wafer cutting blade and method

The invention provides apparatus and methods for sawing and singulating individual devices from a silicon or glass-bonded semiconductor wafer. Using methods of the invention, wafer device singulation includes a step of sawing kerfs approximately coinciding with the peripheries of numerous devices arranged on a wafer. Kerfs are also sawn into the opposite side of the wafer approximately opposing the first kerfs. Mechanical stress is applied to the wafer causing controlled breakage of the intervening wafer material, severing each of the devices from its neighbors. A saw blade apparatus of the invention provides enhanced cutting characteristics and is particularly suited for glass-bonded semiconductor wafer device singulation. The saw blade has a diamond disc suitable for high-speed rotation about its axis. The saw blade of the invention also preferably has a radiused cutting edge, and an annular gutter symmetrically disposed about the circumference on each of the opposing planes of the disc.