The precise machining of material surface e.g., Si or Ge, by pulsed laser processing is challenging. Laser ablation enables direct patterning but causes various morphological as well as structural modifications of the surface and sub-surface region due to highly dynamic processes at the surface that occur also at ultrashort pulsed laser ablation. Plasma processes enable high quality etching of various materials but require vacuum conditions. Laser and plasma processing are complementary technologies where each technology has inherent advantages and shortcomings. The so called LIPE (Laser-Induced Plasma Etching) is based on a micro-plasma ignited by a laser-induced optical breakdown in a reactive gas and combines therefore both techniques. In LIPE the generated plasma is the source of reactive species, which can interact with a surface and result in chemical etching given a sufficiently small distance between the plasma and the surface. It was shown in previous studies that basic materials like Ge, as well as composite materials such as SiC-SiC composites can be processed using LIPE. In the present study an ultra-short pulse laser source (tpulse = 150 fs, λ = 775 nm, Emax = 1mJ, and frep = 1 kHz) was used to generate a localized, free-standing micro plasma in a mixture of CF$_4$ and O$_2$ at atmospheric pressure by an optical breakdown. In the presentation the results of LIPE experiments of selected materials such as Si, Ge, SiO$_2$, and polymers will be shown, compared and discussed. It will be shown that the LIPE process features a very low material removal rate due to the involved chemical processes. This very low material removal rate of the LIPE process enables a depth control down to mono layers precision and therefore ultrahigh precision machining. Special attention is given to the study of chemical as well as structural modifications of the surface by the LIPE process. In particular, transmission electron microscope (TEM) is used to investigate the surface and sub surface damages of silicon as a consequence of LIP etching. Contrary to laser ablation, which causes substantial modifications, the LIP etched surface is almost defect free.