step 120 in step 122 a plasma is generated in an oxygen gas atmosphere at between about 500 and 1000 watts to form reactive species i e radicals and or ions from the oxygen gas for between about 5 and 45 minutes depending on the characteristics of the photoresist material the reactive species diffuses to the surface of the photoresist material as stated in step 124 where the reactive species is absorbed on the surface of the photoresist material as stated in step 126 in step 128 a chemical reaction occurs resulting in the beginning of the formation of residue ash the semiconductor wafer is removed as stated in step 130 and the photoresist material is planarized by a cmp method as stated in step 132 0036 fig3 illustrates a flow diagram of an near completion dry etch process of the present invention wherein a semiconductor wafer having a photoresist on an active surface thereof is introduced into a dry etching chamber as stated in step 140 in step 142 a plasma is generated in an oxygen gas atmosphere at between about 500 and 1000 watts to form reactive species i e radicals and or ions from the oxygen gas for between about 1 and 30 minutes depending on the characteristics of the photoresist material the reactive species diffuses to the surface of the photoresist material as stated in step 144 where the reactive species is absorbed on the surface of the photoresist material as stated in step.