Abstract: Disclosed herein is a wafer processing method including a protective film forming step of forming a protective film with which the whole of a surface of a wafer is coated, a laser beam irradiation step of irradiating the wafer with a laser beam along streets to remove a functional layer and expose a substrate, a protective film detecting step of detecting the coating state of the protective film in plural device regions over the wafer after the laser beam irradiation, a protective film re-forming step of forming the protective film again in such a manner that the protective film covers each device region if a part that is not coated with the protective film exists in the device regions, a plasma irradiation step of carrying out plasma irradiation for the wafer, and a dividing step of dividing the wafer by cutting along the streets.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a wafer processing method including a protective film forming step of forming a protective film with which the whole of a surface of a wafer is coated, a laser beam irradiation step of irradiating the wafer with a laser beam along streets to remove a functional layer and expose a substrate, a protective film detecting step of detecting the coating state of the protective film in plural device regions over the wafer after the laser beam irradiation, a protective film re-forming step of forming the protective film again in such a manner that the protective film covers each device region if a part that is not coated with the protective film exists in the device regions, a plasma irradiation step of carrying out plasma irradiation for the wafer, and a dividing step of dividing the wafer by cutting along the streets.