The use of selective deposition offers the possibility of depositing materials directly onto designated areas of a substrate. Previously, thin films have been deposited selectively using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electroless deposition and bias sputter deposition. Selective deposition by any of these techniques has been demonstrated for only a limited range of materials and sources. A novel deposition technique, i.e. selective plasma deposition, is demonstrated, which offers the potential of selective deposition for a wide range of materials. The basic principle of selective plasma deposition is the removal of a weakly bound species through the combined use of ion bombardment and reactive plasma chemistry. The key to the removal of the deposited species is the modification of the surface binding energy E(SB). E(SB) may be increased or decreased, depending on the reactive plasma constituents. To demonstrate this process, TiW was selectively deposited on patterned Al contacts on Si wafers. Although selective bias sputter deposition in pure Ar can be used to deposit TiW selectively, the selectivity of the deposition is enhanced by the use of a F-containing gas mixture. In a separate series of experiments, aluminum oxy-nitride (AlxOyNz)ulating films were selectively deposited on the Si substrates rather than the patterned Al.