To make it possible to utilize effectively a semiconductor material by forming various kinds of chip regions of various sizes with no restriction of the shape of streets, and device the semiconductor wafer into each chip.

In a semiconductor wafer, a plurality of rectangular chip regions of the same shape and size are separated by a street and a part of or the whole of street is made zigzag according to arranged positions of the chip regions. In addition to this way, a plurality of irregular chip regions in shape or size are separated by the street and the street is formed according to the shape, the size, and the arrangement of the chip regions. A separating method of the semiconductor element includes at least four steps, such as a first step for applying a photo-resist film on the surface of the semiconductor wafer, a second step for exposing and removing the photo-resist film at an upper part of the street, a third step for forming a groove in the street in a chemical etching step, and a fourth step for separating the wafer along the groove into chips.