A large-area (830 X 1020 mm) inductively coupled plasma source with internal straight antennas was developed for large area flat panel display (FPD) etch process applications and the effects of magnetic fields employing permanent magnets on the plasma characteristics were investigated. Using straight antennas connected in series without the magnetic field, high-density plasmas on the order of 10(11) cm(-3) could be obtained by applying 1500 W of r.f. power to the antennas. By employing the magnetic fields perpendicular to the antenna currents using permanent magnets, improved plasma characteristics such as increase of ion density and decrease of both electron temperature and plasma potential could be achieved in addition to the stability of the plasma possibly due to the reduction of the electron loss. However, the application of the magnetic field decreased the plasma uniformity slightly even though the uniformity within 10% could be maintained in the 800 mm processing area. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.