Atomic layer etching (ALE) can result from sequential, selflimiting thermal reactions. The reactions during thermal ALE are defined by fluorination followed by ligand exchange using metal precursors. The metal precursors introduce various ligands that may transfer during ligand exchange. If the transferred ligands produce stable and volatile metal products, then the metal products may leave the surface and produce etching. In this work, selectivity in thermal ALE was examined by exploring tin(II) acetylacetonate (Sn(acac) 2 ), trimethylaluminum (TMA), dimethylaluminum chloride (DMAC), and SiCl 4 as the metal precursors. These metal precursors provide acac, methyl, and chloride ligands for ligand exchange. HF-pyridine was employed as the fluorination reagent. Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to measure the etch rates of Al 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , ZrO 2 , SiO 2 , Si 3 N 4 , and TiN thin films on silicon wafers. The spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements revealed that HfO 2 was etched by all of the metal precursors. Al 2 O 3 was etched by all of the metal precursors except SiCl 4 . ZrO 2 was etched by all of the metal precursors except TMA. In contrast, SiO 2 , Si 3 N 4 , and TiN were not etched by any of the metal precursors. These results can be explained by the stability and volatility of the possible reaction products. Temperature can also be used to obtain selective thermal ALE. The temperature dependence of ZrO 2 , HfO 2 , and Al 2 O 3 ALE was examined using SiCl 4 as the metal precursor. Higher temperatures can discriminate between the etching of ZrO 2 , HfO 2 , and Al 2 O 3 . The temperature dependence of Al 2 O 3 ALE was also examined using Sn(acac) 2 , TMA, and DMAC as the metal precursors. Sn(acac) 2 etched Al 2 O 3 at temperatures ≥150 °C. DMAC etched Al 2 O 3 at higher temperatures ≥225 °C. TMA etched Al 2 O 3 at even higher temperatures ≥250 °C. The combination of different metal precursors with various ligands and different temperatures can provide multiple pathways for selective thermal ALE.