Patent ID: 8426250

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a laser beam to be directed at a wafer held by a chuck mounted on a stage inside a process chamber; a focusing mechanism for said laser beam; a steering mechanism for said laser beam; an optical scanning mechanism for said laser beam; a mechanical scanning system for said stage wherein said optical scanning mechanism and mechanical scanning system work together to scan said laser beam over the wafer; an etch chemical induced by said laser beam to dissociate in order to etch said wafer and form volatile byproducts, wherein the dissociation is at least one of photolytic dissociation, wherein the etch chemical absorbs energy from the laser beam, and pyrolytic dissociation, wherein the wafer absorbs energy from the laser beam and the etch chemical absorbs heat energy from the wafer; a gas feed line to dispense said etch chemical towards said wafer; and a gas exhaust line to remove any excess of said etch chemical and said volatile byproducts.