Method of wafer thinning

A method for thinning a semiconductor wafer, the method comprising:

• determining a desired thickness for the buried stop layer by evaluating at least one of characteristics of a thin semiconductor wafer, design parameters for interconnections with the thin semiconductor wafer and design parameters for thermal conductance of the thin semiconductor wafer;
• etching a buried stop layer trench in the semiconductor wafer according to the desired thickness;
• filling the buried stop layer trench with a contrasting marker material that contrasts with the wafer and is an insulating material;
• and
• planarizing the semiconductor wafer to the buried stop layer the planarizing comprising:
• thinning the wafer to a thickness of approximately 30 microns using mechanical backgrinding, thinning the wafer until the buried stop layer is identified using uniform reactive ion etching, and removing a remainder of any wafer material covering the buried stop layer using chemical-mechanical planarization to produce the thin semiconductor wafer.