As integrity of semiconductor device is increased, accurate and efficient modeling and recipe generation of semiconductor fabrication procsses are necessary. Among the major semiconductor manufacturing processes, dry etc- hing process using gas plasma and accelerated ion is widely used. The process involves a variety of the chemical and physical effects of gas and accelerated ions. Despite the increased popularity, the complex internal characteristics made efficient modeling difficult. Because of difficulty to determine the control input for the desired output, the recipe generation depends largely on experiences of the experts with several trial and error presently. In this paper, the optimal control of the etching is carried out in the following two phases. First, the optimal neural network models for etching process are developed with genetic algorithm utilizing the input and output data obtained by experiments. In the second phase, search for optimal control inputs in performed by means of using the optimal neural network developed together with genetic algorithm. The results of study indicate that the predictive capabilities of the neural network models are superior to that of the statistical models which have been widely utilized in the semiconductor factory lines. Search for optimal control inputs using genetic algorithm is proved to be efficient by experiments. (author). refs., figs., tabs.