Method of manufacturing chips

A method of manufacturing chips by dividing a wafer that includes a substrate and a metal film covering a reverse side of the substrate along a grid of projected dicing lines on the wafer, comprising:

• a protective member affixing step of affixing a protective member to a face side of the wafer that is positioned opposite the metal film;
• an exposed surface creating step of, after the protective member affixing step, while the wafer is being held through the protective member, removing an outer circumferential region of the metal film and a portion of an outer circumferential region of the substrate on the reverse side thereof, thereby exposing the outer circumferential region of the substrate and creating on a reverse side of an outer circumferential region of the wafer an exposed surface where a portion closer to the face side of the wafer is located outwardly of a portion remoter from the face side of the wafer;
• an alignment step of, after the exposed surface creating step, specifying a position of a projected dicing line and performing an alignment process in reference to an image captured of a face side of the outer circumferential region of the wafer by applying light having a wavelength transmittable through the substrate from a reverse side of the wafer;
• a metal film removing step of, after the alignment step, removing regions of the metal film along the projected dicing lines while the wafer is being held through the protective member;
• a work unit forming step of, after the metal film removing step, removing the protective member from the face side of the wafer and affixing the reverse side of the wafer to a tape that closes an opening of an annular frame, thereby forming a work unit where the wafer and the annular frame are integrally combined with each other;
• and
• a dividing step of, after the work unit forming step, dividing the wafer along the projected dicing lines while the wafer is being held through the tape.