Patent ID: 7510976

Claim:
A plasma-enhanced process performed in a single plasma reactor chamber for etching a thin film layer on a workpiece, using a hard mask layer comprising amorphous carbon layer (ACL) overlying the thin film layer and an anti-reflection coating (ARC) overlying the ACL, comprising: placing said workpiece in the plasma reactor chamber and etching a pattern in said ARC in accordance with a photoresist mask overlying the ARC, using a plasma produced from a fluorine-containing process gas; performing a first transition step by replacing said fluorine-containing process gas with an inert species process gas and maintaining a plasma in said reactor chamber; etching a pattern in said ACL using said ARC as an etch mask by replacing said inert species process gas with a process gas containing hydrogen and maintaining a plasma in said chamber; performing a flush step by replacing said hydrogen-containing process gas with inert species process gas and maintaining a plasma in said chamber; and etching a pattern in said thin film layer using said ACL as a hard mask by replacing said inert species process gas in said chamber with a species capable of etching said thin film layer.