Two novel plasma chemistries, BI3 and BBr3, have been employed for dry etching of LaCaMnO3 thin films. For both mixtures there is some chemical enhancement of etch rates at low halide compositions in the discharge, and the rates are a strong function of ion/neutral ratio. Maximum rates are obtained at ratios near 0.02. Etch yields are typically low (<0.3) under inductively-coupled plasma (CICP) conditions. Smooth(d) surface morphologies are obtained over a wide range of conditions, with high-fidelity pattern transfer using SiO2 or SiNx masks.