Plasma etching apparatus and method

A plasma etching method, by using a plasma etching apparatus including an evacuable processing chamber for performing a plasma etching process on a target object, a mounting table for mounting thereon the target object in the processing chamber, a shower head facing the mounting table, for introducing a processing gas for generating a plasma to the processing chamber, a ring-shaped protrusion protruded from a bottom surface of the shower head toward the mounting table, and a plurality of gas introducing openings inclusively arranged in an area smaller than the target object in an inner central portion of the ring-shaped protrusion on the bottom surface of the shower head, the plasma etching method comprising:

• performing a plasma etching process on the target object having an etching target layer mainly made of silicon and a pre-patterned resist layer formed above the etching target layer by applying a plasma generated from a processing gas containing SF6 and O2 to the etching target layer while using the resist layer as a mask.