The production of large volume fluorocarbon plasmas by surface-wave at high pressure (200-3600 Pa) has been achieved. To this end, a microwave launcher made of slot antennae and of an air layer between the antennae and the quartz plate has been used. The influence of the shape of the antennae and of the thickness of the air layer has been studied in terms of homogeneity of the plasma on the quartz plate, as the applied power was varied, and simple models allowed for the understanding of the observed trends. For the configuration enabling the best balance between pressure and hortiogeneity, fluorocarbon polymer films have been deposited on silicon substrates for different reactive gas mixtures (CF4+C4F8) in argon. The water-repellency property of the deposited polymer films has been determined by contact angle measurements, and linked to observations of the gas phase by OES measurements in the visible spectral range. The absence of film when pure CF4 was used as a reactive gas is explained by the presence of oxygen in the discharge, which is probably released in the gas phase through etching of the quartz plate. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.