Positioned between front-end and back-endprocessing in semiconductor manufacturing, waferback-side grinding,the core of chip thinning, hasnot been considered much important. This articleintroduces thinning equipment that solves, as asingle unit, problems associated with peripheralprocesses and wafer transfer between the processes,along with some "often-asked questions about backgrinders." Wafer-thinning technology has become the focus ofattention lately; however, if thinning is the only purpose,proper choice of the etching process may solve the wholeprohlem. Etching process, including wet etching that relies on chemicals and dry etching that uses plasma, is anexcellent means to obtain a perfect crystal layer by removing a stress transition layer (damaged layer) formedin the grinding process.