SiC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME

A method for manufacturing an SiC semiconductor device comprising:

• a step of preparing an SiC wafer having a main surface and constituted of an SiC monocrystal;
• a step of forming, in the main surface, a plurality of alignment patterns that define a scheduled cutting line that demarcates a plurality of chip regions including a first chip region in which a functional device is formed and a second chip region in which a monitor pattern is formed;
• a step of forming, on the main surface, a plurality of main surface electrodes respectively covering the chip regions such as to expose the scheduled cutting line and respectively forming a portion of the functional device and a portion of the monitor pattern;
• a step of forming, on the main surface, a plurality of insulating layers partially covering the main surface electrodes respectively and demarcating a dicing street that exposes the scheduled cutting line in a region between the chip regions that are mutually adjacent;
• a step of irradiating laser light to the scheduled cutting line exposed from the main surface electrodes and the insulating layers through the dicing street and forming a modified region that is modified to be of a property differing from the SiC monocrystal in the SiC wafer;
• and
• a step of cleaving the SiC wafer with the modified region as a starting point.