Method of removing a silylated or germanium implanted photoresist

Abstract

A photoresist layer containing implanted silicon or germanium group coated on a wafer can be entirely removed from the wafer using a dry developing process using oxygen plasma by first out-diffusing or extracting the implanted silicon or germanium. Specifically, the implanted silicon- or germanium is removed from the photoresist by heating the photoresist in the same pre-silylation bake chamber used during the patterning process. Thereafter, the entire photoresist can be removed from the wafer by a dry developing process using oxygen plasma without contaminating the plasma strip equipment.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.