Patent ID: 7642195

Claim:
A plasma ashing process for selectively removing photoresist, organic overlayers and/or polymers/residues from a semiconductor substrate, the process comprising: positioning a substrate in a plasma reactor, said substrate comprising a photoresist layer and/or organic layer deposited over a dielectric layer or oxide layer, wherein said dielectric layer or oxide layer has been treated with hydrogen-based plasma prior to deposition of said photoresist layer and/or organic overlayer and after deposition of said dielectric layer or oxide layer; providing a hydrogen source gas to said plasma reactor and reacting the hydrogen source gas in the presence of an energy source to generate a hydrogen-based plasma; and exposing said substrate to said hydrogen-based plasma under plasma ashing conditions sufficient to selectively remove the photoresist, organic overlayers and/or polymers/residues to thereby leave said underlying dielectric layer or oxide layer in a reduced state, wherein the hydrogen-based plasma includes helium and about 3% hydrogen to about 30% hydrogen by volume.