Method of manufacturing semiconductor devices using laser beam cutting

A method of manufacturing semiconductor devices, each comprising a semiconductor body having a desired structure, which comprises the steps of:

• providing a disc of monocrystalline semiconductor material having a major surface;
• forming a plurality of said desired structures in said major surface;
• scribing the major surface of the semiconductor disc by laser beam cutting to form grooves between adjacent desired structures, the major surface of the monocrystalline semiconductor disc becoming polluted with particles of nonmonocrystalline semiconductor material during said laser beam cutting;
• selectively removing said polluting particles from the major surface of the semiconductor disc by preferentially chemically etching the nonmonocrystalline semiconductor material of the particles with respect to the monocrystalline semiconductor material of the disc;
• and
• severing the semiconductor disc by breaking along the scribed grooves to separate the disc into said semiconductor devices.