We have used the advantage of the high etch selectivity between metals in a wet etching process to develop an optimized technique for engineering magnetic materials. This method is based on electron beam lithography and optimized pattern transfer by a combination of dry and wet etching. The technique has been used in fabricating mesoscopicNi80Fe20dots and wires with lateral dimensions down to 0.2 &mgr;m. We have used scanning electron microscopy to verify the lateral sizes and edge acuity of the structures. The magnetic properties were characterized using magneto-optic Kerr effect and magnetoresistance measurements. A marked increase in the coercive field and the saturation field is seen as the width of the wire is decreased. The magnetoresistance change(∂R)is found to increase significantly as the width of the wire is decreased. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.