Patent ID: 7396431

Claim:
A plasma processing system for treating a substrate comprising: a processing chamber comprising a first chamber portion configured to receive a first gas for providing a plasma space, and a second chamber portion configured to receive a second gas for providing a process space having process chemistry to treat said substrate; a substrate holder coupled to said second chamber portion of said processing chamber, and configured to support said substrate proximate said process space; a plasma source coupled to said first chamber portion of said processing chamber, and configured to form a plasma in said plasma space; and a gas injection grid located between said plasma space and said process space, and configured to permit the diffusion of said plasma between said plasma space and said process space in order to form said process chemistry from said process gas, wherein said gas injection grid injects said first gas into the first chamber portion, the first gas consisting of an inert gas, and also injects said second gas into said second chamber portion, the second gas including a halogen containing gas or a C x F y containing gas where x and y are integers greater than unity.