An analytical plasma chemistry model developed in our previous work was adopted for the interpretation of polymer deposition in fluorocarbon discharges. The rate of deposition of polymer films was expressed in terms of the three plasma variables (discharge power, flow rate of feed gas, and pressure). If the film precursors are generated directly from feed gas molecules in the plasma, the model predicts that the inverse deposition rate is linearly proportional to the inverse discharge power and, at enough low flow rates of feed gas, in the inverse flow rate. Some data in the literature followed this prediction fairly well, which allowed some plasma parameters such as the dissociation efficiency to be estimated. It is also expected that the pressure divided by the deposition rate is linearly proportional to the pressure squared. This expectation agreed well with data in the literature for several fluorocarbon discharges. From the line fit of the plotting (pressure/deposition rate vs. pressure squared) the relative yields of film precursors and etchants dissociated from a fluorocarbon molecule in the plasma were estimated. The etch behavior in fluorocarbon discharges can be approached in terms of these yields. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society.