Patent ID: 7763548

Claim:
A method of processing, a microfeature workpiece, comprising: supporting a microfeature workpiece by an unheated support in an interior of a processing chamber having a polymeric wall; contacting a surface of the microfeature workpiece with an etchant liquid, the polymeric wall of the processing chamber being substantially non-reactive with the etchant liquid; heating the etchant liquid by delivering radiation from a radiation source through the polymeric wall of the processing chamber to heat the etchant liquid, the polymeric wall being more transmissive of an operative wavelength range of the radiation than the etchant liquid, thereby a temperature of the etchant liquid is increased more rapidly than a temperature of the polymeric wall; controlling the radiation source to maintain a temperature of the etchant liquid at or above a target process temperature to etch the surface of the microfeature workpiece; and removing the etched microfeature workpiece from the processing chamber, wherein etching the surface of the microfeature workpiece yields a resultant etchant, the method further comprising determining at least one chemical property of the microfeature workpiece by chemically analyzing the resultant etchant.