Localized etching of silicon wafers has been studied using a scanning atmospheric-pressure microplasma jet. Effects of the nozzle height, At and SF6 gas flow rates and the scan speed of the microplasma jet have been investigated to clarify the fundamental characteristics of scanning microplasma processing. Maskless pattern etching according to the CAD data has been successfully carried out using a prototype of the scanning microplasma jet (SMPJ) etcher. Line art etching, flat thinning of the local area, and pseudo-three dimensional etching has been demonstrated to show its promising potential as a rapid microfabrication tool. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.