Apparatus for the production of glow discharge

Apparatus for the production of glow discharge, particularly for a large-area plasma CVD process, comprising:

• a vacuum coating chamber having an outer wall, and microwave waveguide resonator means with discrete coupling points each comprising an antenna,
• the resonator means being microwave waveguide ring resonator means and disposed in the area of the outer wall of the chamber,
• reaction zones each being formed at each of the discrete coupling points between the microwave waveguide ring resonator means and the vacuum chamber, the reaction zones having a similar ring-like composite configuration to the resonator means and being disposed on the inside of the chamber wall, individual spatially uniform plasma clouds being disposed in the individual reaction zones, and
• a series of permanent magnets of different polarity being disposed in the area of the annularly formed reaction zones, the magnets being so disposed inside the chamber wall that in front of the reaction zones a tunnel of magnetic field lines running parallel thereto is formed between magnet poles, and the magnetic field lines covering the individual spatially uniform plasma clouds of the reaction zones.