Patent ID: 7341941

Claim:
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: forming a first dielectric layer having an etch rate at an initial value over a semiconductor body; selectively altering the etch rate of the first dielectric layer to an altered value by employing an energy based process that results in the altered value being lower than the initial value; forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer having the altered etch rate value, the second dielectric layer having an etch rate at an initial value; and selectively etching the second dielectric layer to form at least one etched region within the second dielectric layer, wherein the initial value of the etch rate of the second dielectric layer is higher than the altered value of the etch rate of the first dielectric layer, and wherein the initial etch rate value for the second dielectric layer is substantially similar to the initial etch rate value of the first dielectric layer.