The laser assisted wet chemical etching technology was proposed in this study to apply in the etching of YBCO high temperature superconducting film, which was an intercrossing application involving superconducting electronics, laser technique, and chemistry. The etched surfaces and change characteristics were studied and some important experimental results were reported, including the influences of laser density, etching duration, and direction of LaAlO3 underlay on the etching characters of YBCO film under laser radiation. The main experimental results are as follows: the etching rate of YBCO film is accelerated dramatically under laser radiation and the rate is increased over time; the etching rate is relative with the laser power density; there is no strict boundary under the whole laser facula and the surface etching degree of YBCO film changes gradually; the etched surface characteristics are greatly influenced by the direction of LaAlO3 underlay. The laser assisted wet chemical etching technology of YBCO film can overcome the defect of common wet and dry ion etching technology, and probably becomes the main etching technology of YBCO film. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 2672–2675, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22809