Patent ID: 7456140

Claim:
A method of removing a photoresist coating from a substrate comprising contacting the coating with an aqueous composition comprising from about 0.5 percent by weight to about 3.5 percent by weight of ammonium bifluoride; from about 15 percent by weight to about 70 percent by weight of an organic sulfoxide solvent selected from the group consisting of dimethyl sulfoxide, dipropyl sulfoxide, diethyl sulfoxide, methylethyl sulfoxide, diphenyl sulfoxide, methylphenyl sulfoxide, 1,1′-dihydroxyphenyl sulfoxide and mixtures thereof; optionally a sulfone solvent corresponding to the following: where R 1 and R 2 are alkyl and R 3 -R 10 are independently H or alkyl; and from 0 to about 5 percent by weight of an alkanolamine; wherein: the composition contains at least one of the alkanolamine and the sulfone solvent; when the sulfone solvent is present, it is present in an amount from about 30 percent by weight to about 50 percent by weight and the sulfone and the sulfoxide solvents are present in a combined amount of at least 55 percent by weight; and when the sulfone solvent is not present, the sulfoxide solvent is present in an amount of at least about 55 percent by weight.