A wafer is divided into a plurality of individual devices along a plurality of crossing division lines formed on the front side of the wafer. The wafer has a substrate, a functional layer formed on the front side of the substrate, and an SiO2 film formed on the front side of the functional layer. The individual devices are formed from the functional layer and partitioned by the division lines. The functional layer is removed by applying a laser beam to the wafer along each division line to thereby remove the functional layer along each division line. The laser beam has an absorption wavelength to the SiO2 film with high absorptivity due to the stretching vibration of an O—H bond or a C—H bond remaining in the SiO2 film. The wafer is then divided into the individual devices.