Large-area ECR processing plasmas have been developed. Magnetic fields
are composed of permanent magnets located along dosed lines, invertin
g the polarity line by line, At first a new type of microwave launchin
g system which consists of a dielectric plate and metal bars was teste
d, by using a discharge chamber of circular geometry in a diameter of
30 cm. It was verified that the launcher was useful in the production
of a large-area plasma in a wide range of gas pressures. By using this
type of launcher, a plasma in a rectangular geometry with dimensions
of 40 X 50 cm was generated. Basic data which lead to the solution use
d to obtain a large rectangular uniform plasma (uniformity better than
+/-5%) were obtained.