Abstract: Magnetic confinement of electrons in a plasma reactor is effected using electro-magnetic coils and other magnets which generate respective magnetic fields which are mutually opposed and substantially orthogonal on their common axis to the major plane of a wafer being processed, instead of being aligned and parallel to the major plane as in prior magnetically enhanced plasma reactors. The respective magnetic fields combine to yield a net magnetic field which is nearly parallel to the wafer away from the magnetic axis so that electrons are confined in the usual manner. In addition, a magnetic mirror provides confinement near the magnetic axis. The E.times.B cross product defines a circumferential drift velocity urging electrons about a closed path about the magnetic axis.