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Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers were etched by an energetic chlorine neutral beam obtained by the low-angle forward reflection of an ion beam, and the surface roughness of the etched wafers was compared with that of the SOI wafers etched by an energetic chlorine ion beam. When the ion beam was used to etch the silicon layer of the SOI wafers, the surface roughness was not significantly changed even though the use of higher ion bombardment energy slightly decreased the surface roughness of the SOI wafer. However, when the chlorine neutral beam was used instead of the chlorine ion beam having a similar beam energy, the surface roughness of the SOI wafer was significantly improved compared with that etched by the chlorine ion beam. By etching about 150 nm silicon from the SOI wafer having a 300 nm-thick top silicon layer with the chlorine neutral beam at the energy of 500 eV, the rms surface roughness of 1.5 Å could be obtained with the etch rate of about 750 Å min −1 .