We present an atmospheric pressure plasma processing for ashing photo-resist (PR) layer in the flat panel display and semiconductor manufacturing. Removal of KrF PR, i-line PR, and negative color filter PR layers on a 6th-generation large area (1640 x 30 mm(2)) substrate was investigated by making use of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma device, which is with a large number of gas-flowing holes. The nitrogen DBD plasma was generated with a mixture of compressed dry air (CDA) and SF(6). To prevent thermal shrinkage of the PR layer, samples were maintained at a temperature less than 100 degrees C. Uniformity and reproducibility experiments have been carried out in terms of treatment time. Eventually, we obtained an ashing rate of about 600 nm/min for negative color filter PR, and 450 nm/min for KrF and i-line PR at a CDA concentration of 1%, a SF(6) concentration of 0.5%, a carrier N(2) gas flow rate of 1500 liters per minute (Ipm) and at an applied power of 8 kW. Amorphous-Si layer loss which strongly depends on the fluorine radicals was at an acceptable level of 5 nm/min in the given conditions. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.