Plasma charging induced damage is thought to mainly result from traps generated from charging induced tunneling currents through the thin oxide. Theoretically, any parameters that increase the trap generation rate will increase the charging damage. One such parameter is temperature. While the exact mechanism by which temperature increases the interaction between tunneling electrons and the oxide lattice is not well understood, a number of researchers have reported a decrease in the charge to breakdown Q(bd) at higher temperatures up to 150 degrees C. To test the effect of temperature on Q(bd) an O-2 asher was operated in a known charging damage mode with test wafers at different temperatures. Using antenna capacitors with two different peak wafer temperatures (145 and 340 degrees C) during charging, damage was measured by Q(bd) and leakage methods after plasma exposure. At 145 degrees C, it was found that the plasma had only weakly decreased Q(bd) and increased leakage for the largest antenna area with little effect on the smallest antenna area. However, as the temperature was increased, the larger antenna capacitors showed a significant decrease in Q(bd) and leakage after plasma exposure. These results are in agreement with a tunneling current damage mechanism for charging, and experimentally suggest that elevated temperature plasma processes, such as plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition, can be expected to be more susceptible to charging damage than etching processes.