Patent ID: 7435686

Claim:
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: providing a substrate; forming a gate dielectric layer on the substrate; forming a gate electrode on the dielectric layer; forming a first photoresist layer on the substrate to define a source and drain regions in the substrate; forming the source and drain regions in the substrate, wherein forming the source and drain regions comprises implanting dopants into the source and drain regions in the substrate, and wherein implanting dopants forms a top crust layer of the first photoresist layer; and removing the first photoresist layer after the source and drain regions are formed, wherein removing the first photoresist layer further includes subjecting the substrate to hydrogen plasma to remove the top crust layer of the first photoresist layer without causing oxidation of the substrate, gate dielectric layer, or gate electrode, and then contacting the first photoresist layer with a photoresist removal solution to remove the bulk of the first photoresist layer.