G-and i-line diazonaphthoquinone/novolak photoresist films are surface imaged with g-line, i-line and deep-UV steppers. Following optical exposure, the resist film is treated with aqueous solutions which deposit a catalyst for electroless metal deposition. Wet development of the exposed and catalyzed photoresist results in selective removal of catalyst along with the exposed portion of the underlying photoresist. Upon immersion in an aqueous electroless plating solution, metal is selectively deposited on the unexposed photoresist which is still bearing catalyst to yield a positive-tone plasma etch mask. Oxygen magnetron-enhanced reactive ion etching (02 MERlE) provides high polymer etch rates (4 im/min) with excellent selectivity (>300:1) to 70-1 70 A Ni films. In addition, large ion fluxes produce highly anisotropic etch profiles for faithful pattern transfer. The process has achieved 0.30 pm resolution with a 6:1 aspect ratio at 248 nm (0.35 NA). Printing of 0.40 im lines and spaces has been achieved at i-line (0.45 NA) over Al steps.

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