A new method for destroying silicon tetrachloride has been proposed, which is based on a microwave plasma jet that operates at atmospheric pressure using hydrogen as work gas. The influence of input power (P) and silicon tetrachloride concentration (phi) on the percent destruction and removal of SiCl4 was investigated. And the reclaimed solid byproducts were characterized by SEM, EDX and XRD. Species in the plasma, which were identified by atomic emission spectroscopy were found to include no halogen. Results indicate that the destruction efficiency of silicon tetrachloride can reach 96% when P = 800 W and phi = 1.0%, and the main solid byproduct was Si. The silicon deposited on the molybdenum substrate of the plasma reactor was yellow and typical nano-sized particles with grain size of 54 nm. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.