The reactive ion etching characteristics of aluminum oxide films, prepared by PECVD, were investigated in the CCl4 plasma. The atomic chlorine concentration and the DC self bias were determined at various etching conditions, and their effects on the etch rate of aluminum oxide film were studied. The bombarding energy of incident particles was found to play the more important role in determining the etch rate of aluminum oxide rather than the atomic chlorine concentration. It is considered to be because the bombardment of ions or neutral atoms breaks the strong Al-O bonds of aluminum oxide to help activate the formation reaction of AlCl3 which is the volatile etch product.