Perfluorocompounds (PFCs), which have long lifetimes and serious global warming implications, are widely used during plasma etching and plasma-assisted chamber cleaning processes in metal and dielectric film, by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems. Surface cleanings are performed within a reduced pressure chamber by making use of PFC gases. These contaminant gases are emitted with nitrogen gas, which are used for vacuum pump purges. In order to destroy all of the global warming gases including PFCs, we have developed a plasma abatement device, an electrodeless atmospheric microwave plasma-torch, which can easily generate plasma at a given atmospheric pressure. The plasma abatement device is attached to the vacuum pump, which discharges the nitrogen gas with contaminants. The abatement was carried out using oxygen and air as additive gases. Destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of more than 98% was achieved for tetrafluoromethane (CF4). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.