Patent ID: 7517813

Claim:
A method of oxidizing a substrate ( 1 ), comprising: providing a substrate ( 1 ) having a front side ( 12 ) to be patterned and a rear side ( 13 ), and determining a degree of oxide coverage for the front side to be patterned; oxidizing said substrate ( 1 ) in two steps, wherein in or during a first step of oxidizing said rear side ( 13 ) is covered by an oxidation-hampering layer ( 4 ), and in or during a second step of the oxidation said oxidation-hampering layer ( 4 ) is not present or is removed such that an increased oxide thickness (D 10 ) is obtained on said front side ( 12 ) compared to said rear side ( 13 ) during said two steps, and controlling said oxidizing on the basis of the determined degree of coverage, wherein said controlling of oxidizing is taking into account a target thickness of the oxide on the front side ( 12 ) to be patterned and said controlling of oxidizing is performed to form substantially equal oxide volumes on the front side ( 12 ) and the rear side ( 13 ) of said substrate.