The etch characteristics of magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) related materials such as CoFeB, MgO, FePt, Ru, and W as hard mask have been investigated as functions of rf pulse biasing, substrate heating, and CH4/N2O gas combination in an inductively coupled plasma system. When CH4/N2O gas ratio was varied, at CH4/N2O gas ratio of 2:1, not only the highest etch rates but also the highest etch selectivity over W could be obtained. By increasing the substrate temperature, the linear increase of both the etch rates of MTJ materials and the etch selectivity over W could be obtained. The use of the rf pulse biasing improved the etch selectivity of the MTJ materials over hard mask such as W further. The surface roughness and residual thickness remaining on the etched surface of the CoFeB were also decreased by using rf pulse biasing and with the decrease of rf duty percentage. The improvement of etch characteristics by substrate heating and rf pulse biasing was possibly related to the formation of more stable and volatile etch compounds and the removal of chemically reacted compounds more easily on the etched CoFeB surface. Highly selective etching of MTJ materials over the hard mask could be obtained by using the rf pulse biasing of 30% of duty ratio and by increasing the substrate temperature to 200 degrees C in the CH4/N2O (2:1) plasmas.