NOVELTY - Kerf formation and treatment for solar cells, involves: providing semiconductor film having solar cells on it and backed by metal layer (16) connecting respective terminals of solar cells; defining reference feature on the film between solar cells (510, 512); cutting along the feature using UV laser beam leaving kerf having walls (204) with debris deposited upon the walls and cleaning the debris left on kerf wall using an acid-based solvent.    USE - For Kerf formation and treatment for solar cells, and in semiconductor films (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method is usable on various semiconductor films and wafers having various semiconductor devices. The laser cutting and chemical edge clean processes provide decreased semiconductor waste as compared to known wafer and film sawing using a diamond saw and provide improved solar cell or other semiconductor device yield as compared to known laser cutting techniques.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Kerf formation and treatment for solar cells, involves: providing semiconductor film having several solar cells on it and is backed by a first metal layer (16) connecting respective first terminals of the solar cells, where the film has a front surface topped by a second metal layer connecting respective second terminals of the solar cells; defining a reference feature on the film between a first solar cell (510) and a second solar cell (512); aligning an ultraviolet laser beam to the reference feature; cutting along the reference feature, using the aligned ultraviolet laser beam to cut from the front surface of the second metal layer, through the second metal layer, through the film, through the first metal layer and to or partially into a support material backing the first metal layer, leaving a kerf having walls (204) with debris deposited upon the walls; and cleaning the debris off of the walls of the kerf, using an acid-based solvent, where the respective first terminals of the first and second solar cells are electrically isolated by the cleaned kerf and the respective second terminals of the first and second solar cells are electrically isolated by the cleaned kerf. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for kerf formation and treatment in semiconductor films, involving: providing a semiconductor film having semiconductor devices on it and having a front surface; depositing a metal seed layer (4) on top of the front surface of the film; defining a reference feature on the film; depositing a photoresist layer on top of the metal seed layer to define a non-plated region that includes the reference feature; depositing a metal plating on top of the metal seed layer in a plating region having an absence of the photoresist layer; directing an ultraviolet laser beam to cut through the photoresist layer, through the metal seed layer and through the semiconductor film; moving the film and the ultraviolet laser beam relative to each other to laser cut along the reference feature, thus forming a kerf with edges and depositing debris on a portion of the photoresist layer and on the kerf edges; wet-cleaning the kerf to remove the debris, using an acid-based solvent; stripping the photoresist layer, thus exposing a portion of the metal seed layer in the non-plated region; and etching the exposed portion of the metal seed layer, using an etchant that preferentially removes material from it, with the metal plating remaining in the plating region and a to-be-exposed portion of the front surface of the semiconductor film in the non-plated region becoming exposed; where the photoresist layer and the portion of the metal seed layer in the non-plated region protect the to-be-exposed portion of the front surface of the semiconductor film from debris during the laser cutting.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor film with an exposed portion of a second metal layer removed.    First metal layer (16)    Adhesive layer (20)    Flexible polymer substrate (22)    First and second solar cells (510, 512)    Incident photons (550)