Microwave electron cyclotron resonant (ECR) discharges offer the advantage of providing a highly dissociated, highly ionized plasma at mTorr and submTorr pressures where the mean free paths of plasma species are long. This report is concerned with the use of oxygen ECR plasmas to uniformly grow low temperature SiO2 on silicon wafers. The apparatus employs an octapole permanent magnet arrangement to provide multicusp ECR zones in a 9 cm diam discharge. Plasma species diffuse through an essentially magnetic field free processing zone to a downstream 7.5 cm diam wafer which is biased positively for anodic oxidation. Uniform coverage (±3%) is achieved across the wafer. Properties of the resulting films are studied by x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger, and metal–oxide‐semiconductor analyses.