HEF group, a French leading company in plasma enhanced surface engineering, has been using electron cyclotron resonance based multi-dipolar microwave plasma sources for industrial processes such as PACVD diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings or ion assistance during deposition of CrN layers via magnetron reactive sputtering. The present thesis first introduces the use of such sources for DLC coatings and the necessary adjustments for their industrial deployment. Then, it focuses on the development of a new generation of microwave plasma sources designed to improve the uniformity of surface coatings in the reactor volume while improving the productivity of plasma chamber in terms of deposition rate and maintenance. Specific studies about plasma breakdown have also led to identify improvement strategies for full-fledge industrial applications of these sources. The process results obtained are highly promising as the development of a new generation of extended sources enables an increase in the deposition rate of DLC layers without any degradation of their mechanical properties, and with the same uniformity as obtained with twice the number of multi-dipolar plasma sources. This extended source has also been used for ion assistance during the deposition of CrN films by magnetron reactive sputtering. The obtained films exhibit a significant potential regarding the achieved mechanical properties.
