Methods for etching quartz are provided herein. In one embodiment, a method of etching quartz includes providing a film stack on a substrate support disposed in a processing chamber, the film stack having a quartz layer partially exposed through a patterned layer; and etching the quartz layer of the film stack in a multi-step process including a first step of etching the quartz layer utilizing a first process gas comprising at least one fluorocarbon process gas and a chlorine-containing process gas; and a second step of etching the quartz layer utilizing a second process gas comprising at least one fluorocarbon process gas.