Patent ID: 8557710

Claim:
A method for etching metal-containing material on a substrate, comprising: maintaining a reduced-pressure environment around a substrate holder for holding a substrate having a surface; holding said substrate securely within said reduced-pressure environment; forming a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) from a pressurized gas comprising an etching gas that includes a mono-substituted halomethane, a di-substituted halomethane, a tri-substituted halomethane, or a tetra-substituted halomethane substituted with two different halogen elements, or any combination of two or more thereof; accelerating said GCIB through said reduced-pressure environment; and irradiating said accelerated GCIB onto at least a portion of said surface of said substrate to etch a metal-containing material on said substrate, wherein said metal-containing material includes a transition or post-transition metal.