Patent ID: 6949469

Claim:
In a plasma processing system having a plasma reactor, a method of performing partial photo resist etch on a blanket deposited layer of photo resist material, said blanket-deposited layer of photo resist material being disposed above a substrate having thereon surface topologies that include at least a dense region and an isolated region, comprising: introducing said substrate into said plasma reactor; flowing an etchant gas mixture into said plasma reactor, said etchant gas mixture comprising an optimal flow percentage of a fluorine containing gas between about 0.1% and about 10% of said etchant gas mixture; striking a plasma from said gas mixture; etching said photo-resist layer with said plasma, wherein said optimal flow percentage of said fluorine containing gas being configured to leave a substantially uniform thickness of said photo resist material in said dense region and said isolated region after said etching is terminated; and, removing said substrate from said plasma reactor.