A plasma etching method plasma-etches an etching target film by using a photoresist film as a mask. The plasma etching method includes loading a target object to be processed into a processing chamber where an upper and a lower electrode are provided to face each other, the target object having the etching target film and the photoresist film in which an opening is formed; introducing into the processing chamber a processing gas containing CF4 gas, CH2F2 gas and CxFy gas, wherein x / y≧0.5; and generating a plasma of the processing gas by applying a high frequency power to at least one of the upper and the lower electrode. The method further includes, by the plasma, etching the etching target film introduced through the opening formed in the photoresist film while reducing the opening size the opening.