Patent ID: 7071110

Claim:
A plasma-etching process for the fabrication of a mask used in the fabrication of a semiconductor component, which comprises: providing a quartz substrate with a chromium layer; generating an etching plasma containing at least one of oxygen and nitrogen; introducing at least one silicon-donating compound into the plasma, the silicon-donating compound being a gaseous molecule selected from the group consisting of SiH 4 , SiF 4 , SiH 2 Cl 2 , SiCl 2 O; etching a trench structure in the chromium layer with the etching plasma; and during the etching step, and after the at least one silicon-donating compound has been added to the plasma, coating the side walls of the trench structure with an SiO 2 a layer, an SiO 2 -like layer, or a silicon nitride layer for the formation of passivation layers.