Platinum thin films have been successfully etched without redeposition of etch products using chlorine-based gases in an inductively coupled plasma. The redeposited materials formed on the pattern sidewall by using Cl-2/Ar gas combination were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. We found that the redeposited material was mainly PtCl2 compound. Based on this result, SiCl4/Cl-2/Ar gas chemistry has been proposed as a new etching gas and demonstrated good etching profile of Pt films without unwanted redeposition.