A low temperature process for depositing a coating containing any of
silicon, nitrogen, hydrogen or oxygen on a workpiece includes placing the
workpiece in a reactor chamber facing a processing region of the chamber,
introducing a process gas containing any of silicon, nitrogen, hydrogen
or oxygen into the reactor chamber, generating a torroidal RF plasma
current in a reentrant path through the processing region by applying RF
plasma source power at an HF frequency on the order of about 10 MHz to a
portion of a reentrant conduit external of the chamber and forming a
portion of the reentrant path, applying RF plasma bias power at an LF
frequency on the order of one or a few MHz to the workpiece, and
maintaining the temperature of the workpiece under about 100 degrees C.