Silicon oxide etching was modeled using a translating mixed-layer model, a novel surface kinetic modeling technique, and the model showed good agreement with measured data. Carbon and fluorine were identified as the primary contributors to deposition and etching, respectively. Atomic fluorine flux is a major factor that determines the etching behavior. With a chemistry having a small amount of atomic fluorine (such as the C4F8 chemistry), etching yield shows stronger dependence on the composition change in the gas flux. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.