The specific electrical, optical and acoustic properties of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) are important for semiconductor process which has many various applications. Piezoelectric ZnO films has been widely used for such as transducers, bulk and surface acoustic-wave resonators, and acousto-optic devices. In this study, we investigated etch characteristics of ZnO thin films in inductively coupled plasma etch system with $BCl_3/Ar$ gas mixture. The etching characteristics of ZnO thin films were investigated in terms of etch rates and selectivities to $SiO_2$ as a function of $BCl_3/Ar$ gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC bias voltage and process pressure. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 172 nm/min was obtained for $BCl_3$ (80%)/Ar(20%) gas mixture. The chemical states on the etched surface were investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).