The use of Plasma Etch in patterning Binary Cr layers for modern reduction reticles has seen dramatic increase in the past two years. The drive towards the 0.25 micrometer and 0.18 micrometer technology has rendered wet etch of Binary Cr inadequate for the demanding gate level designs of most advanced devices. The use of dry etch for these patterns is studied closely through the pattern loading within a mask (Exposed Cr Load). It has been seen that Cr Load strongly affects several plasma etch responses, e.g.: resist selectivity, Cr etch rate, overall CD Uniformity and within- Mask CD Uniformity pattern.