US Patent 7498236 Silicon wafer thinning end point method

Disclosed are a method of and system for fabricating a semiconductor wafer. The method comprises the steps of providing a silicon wafer having a front side an a back side, building an integrated circuit on the front side of the wafer, and thereafter removing substrate from the back side of the silicon wafer. The building step includes the steps of forming a desired structure in the wafer, and forming an end structure in the wafer, said end structure extending to a greater depth, toward the back side of the wafer, than the desired structure. Also, the removing step includes the step of removing said substrate only to the end structure, whereby no part of the desired structure is removed during the removing step.