Patent ID: 6864174

Claim:
A method for compensating for CD variations across a semiconductor process wafer surface diameter in a photolithographic patterning and plasma etching process comprising the steps of: providing a semiconductor process wafer having a process surface comprising photolithographically developed features imaged from a photomask for forming etched features; determining a first dimensional variation of the photolithographically developed features with respect to corresponding photomask dimensions along at least one wafer surface direction comprising a diameter of the process surface; determining gas flow parameters in a plasma reactor for a plasma etching process required to approach a targeted dimensional variation of the etched features by reference to an archive of previous plasma etching process parameters including gas flow parameters carried out in the plasma reactor; carrying out the plasma etching process in the plasma reactor to form the etched features according to the determined gas flow parameters selected from the group consisting of gas supply flow parameters and exhaust flow parameters to alter an etching rate over the diameter; and, determining a second dimensional variation of the etched features along the at least one wafer surface direction.