Patent ID: 7157375

Claim:
A process for removal of a photoresist layer from a semiconductor wafer in a chamber, comprising: a. creating a microwave-energy-generated plasma with no RIE and at a standard temperature, with a first gas mixture comprising oxygen and a fluorine-containing gas, the amount of the fluorine-containing gas sufficient to convert a polymer on side walls of etched features in the wafer to a water soluble form, and contacting the wafer with the microwave-energy-generated plasma; b. subsequent to creating, stripping the photoresist layer from the wafer using a microwave-energy-generated plasma of a second gas mixture comprising oxygen and a nitrogen species, and no fluorine-containing gas and without an RIE process and at a relatively high temperature; c. determining an endpoint to the stripping of the photoresist layer by a determined change in visible light in the chamber; and d. removing the converted polymer with water.