a small , light - weight and highly maintainable etching system and an etching method for etching a large substrate with a homogeneous etching rate are provided . the etching system comprises an agitating electric field system disposed around the substrate , an agitating power source of high frequency , medium frequency or low frequency , agitating electrodes , amplifiers and a phase controller to agitate electrons or ions to increase the etching speed and the uniformity of the etching rate by promoting activation of reactive gas and uniformalizing a plasma density .