Broadly speaking, methods and an apparatus are provided for removing an
inorganic material from a substrate. More specifically, the methods
provide for removing the inorganic material from the substrate through
exposure to a high density plasma generated using an inductively coupled
etching apparatus. The high density plasma is set and controlled to
isotropically contact particular regions of the inorganic material to
allow for trimming and control of a critical dimension associated with
the inorganic material.