We developed an ultraprecise surface preparation method named catalyst referred etching (CARE) in which a reference plate is employed to be copied on to the work surface during chemical etching. The reference plate has a catalytic nature to enhance etching reaction just on the surface. Single crystalline SiC (0001), GaN (0001), and ZnO (0001) surfaces were processed by CARE, and evaluated to be nearly atomically flat and crystallographically highly ordered.