Patent ID: 8641862

Claim:
An apparatus for removing material from a work piece surface comprising: a reaction chamber comprising a plasma source, a showerhead coupled to the plasma source; a first gas inlet for introducing a gas into the plasma source, a second gas inlet downstream of the plasma source and upstream the showerhead, and a work piece support downstream of the showerhead, said work piece support comprising a pedestal and temperature-controlling mechanism to control a temperature of a work piece supported on the work piece support; and a controller configured for executing a set of instructions, said set of instruction comprising instructions to introduce elemental hydrogen, an oxidizing agent, and a fluorine containing gas into the plasma source via the first gas inlet, wherein the oxidizing agent is selected from carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide and water; generate a plasma from the elemental hydrogen, oxidizing agent and fluorine containing gas introduced into the plasma source, and concurrently introduce an inert gas to the second gas inlet such that the inert gas mixes with plasma from the plasma source downstream of the plasma source and upstream of the work piece support.