A semiconductor film serving as an active region of a thin film transistor and an upper oxide film protecting the semiconductor film are dry etched to form the active region. In this case, a fluorine-based gas is used as the etching gas, and the etching gas is switched from the fluorine-based gas to a chlorine-based gas at a point of time when a lower oxide film as an underlying film of the semiconductor film is exposed. As the fluorine-based gas, a mixed gas of CF.sub.4 and O.sub.2 is used, and suitably, a gas ratio of CF.sub.4 and O.sub.2 in the mixture gas is set at 1:1, and the dry etching is performed therefor. By this etching, a side face of a two-layer structure of the semiconductor film and upper oxide film is optimally tapered, and a crack or a disconnection is prevented from being occurring in a film crossing over the two-layer structure.