High density plasma etching of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films wasperformed in O2 and O2/Ar inductively coupled plasma (ICP) discharges. The O2/Ar ICP discharges produced higher etch rates due to enhanced physical component of the etching, and a maximum etch rate of -280 nm/min was obtained in 10 sccm O2/5 sccm Ar discharges. Very high etch selectivities up to -140:1 were obtained for the UNCD over Al mask layer. Anisotropic pattern transfer with a vertical sidewall profile was achieved in the 10 sccm O2/5 sccm Ar discharges at a relatively low source power (300 W) and a moderate rf chuck power (200 W).