A preventive treatment method for a multilayer semiconductor wafer is described. The semiconductor wafer includes a supporting substrate, at least one intermediate layer and a surface layer in which an intermediate layer has an exposed lateral edge and the wafer is to be subjected to a subsequent treatment. The method includes encapsulating the exposed lateral edge of the intermediate layer with a portion of the surface layer to prevent attack on the peripheral edge during the subsequent treatment.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 10/784,040 filed Feb. 20, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,783 which claims the benefit of application Ser. No. 60/483,477 filed Jun. 26, 2003, the entire content of each of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
