Thermal atomic layer etching (ALE) is an important technique for the precise isotropic etching of nanostructures. Thermal ALE of many materials can be achieved using a two-step fluorination and ligand-exchange reaction mechanism. Most previous thermal ALE processes have used HF as the fluorination reactant. Alternative fluorination reactants may be needed because HF is a weak nucleophilic fluorination reactant. Stronger fluorination agents may be required for the fluorination of some materials. To demonstrate the usefulness of SF 4 as an alternative to HF, thermal Al 2 O 3 ALE was compared using SF 4 or HF together with Sn(acac) 2 as the metal precursor for ligand exchange. SF 4 and HF were observed to behave similarly as fluorination reactants during Al 2 O 3 ALE. The mass gains during the initial SF 4 and HF exposures on Al 2 O 3 atomic layer deposition (ALD) films at 200 °C were comparable at 35 and 38 ng/cm 2 , respectively, using quartz crystal microbalance measurements. In addition, the etch rates were similar at 0.20 and 0.28 Å/cycle for Al 2 O 3 ALE using SF 4 and HF, respectively, at 200 °C. Thermal VO 2 ALE was also performed for the first time using SF 4 or HF and Sn(acac) 2 as the reactants. There was evidence that SF 4 is a stronger fluorination reactant than HF for VO 2 fluorination. The mass gains during the initial SF 4 and HF exposures on VO 2 ALD films were 38 and 20 ng/cm 2 , respectively, at 200 °C. Thermal VO 2 ALE also had a higher etch rate when fluorinating with SF 4 compared with HF. Etch rates of 0.30 and 0.11 Å/cycle were measured for VO 2 ALE using SF 4 and HF, respectively, together with Sn(acac) 2 at 200 °C. Fourier transform infrared experiments were also used to monitor fluorination of the Al 2 O 3 and VO 2 ALD films by SF 4 or HF. FTIR difference spectroscopy was used to observe the increase of Al−F and V−F stretching vibrations and the loss of the Al−O and VO/VO stretching vibrations for Al 2 O 3 and VO 2 , respectively, versus SF 4 or HF exposure at 200 °C. Additional absorbance features after fluorination of the Al 2 O 3 ALD films by SF 4 were consistent with SF x surface species. SF 4 is a useful fluorination agent for thermal ALE processes and can be used as an alternative to HF. In addition, SF 4 may be necessary when fluorination requires a stronger fluorination reactant than HF.