A large-area multi-helicon rectangular plasma source has been designed and fabricated using twelve side-injected helicon plasma injectors for flat panel display processing. In order to get the optimum design parameters for helicon plasma injectors, very high frequency discharge using m = 1 Nagoya type III antenna appears to be the best for high-density plasma generation. Magnetic field effects on both plasma generation and transport are studied. Maximum plasma densities have been obtained at low magnetic fields near 100-150 G, and the uniformity of plasma density has been optimized by, the magnetic field configuration and the substrate level. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.