A variety of different plasma chemistries, including SF6, Cl2, ICl, and IBr, have been examined for dry etching of 6H-SiC in high ion density plasma tools (inductively coupled plasma and electron cyclotron resonance). Rates up to 4500A-min−1 were obtained for SF6 plasmas, while much lower rates (≤800A·min−1) were achieved with Cl2, ICl, and IBr. The F2-based chemistries have poor selectivity for SiC over photoresist masks (typically 0.4–0.5), but Ni masks are more robust, and allow etch depths ≥10 µm in the SiC. A micromachining process (sequential etch/deposition steps) designed for Si produces relatively low etch rates (<2,000A-min−1) for SiC.