Hydrophobic coating on a silicate-based yellow phosphor (Sr2SiO4:Eu2+) was carried out by using hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) precursor in an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor, eventually to improve the long-term stability and reliability of the phosphor. The phosphor powder samples were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a transmission electron microscope (TEM), a fluorescence spectrophotometer and a contact angle analyzer. After the coating was prepared, the contact angle of the phosphor powder increased to 133.0° for water and to 140.5° for glycerol, indicating that a hydrophobic layer was formed on its surface. The phosphor coated with HMDSO exhibited photoluminescence enhancement up to 7.8%. The SEM and TEM images of the phosphor powder revealed that the plasma coating led to a morphological change from grain-like structure to smooth surface with 31~46 nm thick hydrophobic layer. The light emitting diode (3528 1 chip LED) fabricated with the coated phosphor showed a substantial enhancement in the reliability under a special test condition at 85 ℃ and 85% relative humidity for 1,000 h (85/85 testing). The plasma-mediated method proposed in this work may be applicable to the formation of 3-dimensional coating layer on irregular-shaped phosphor powder, thereby improving the reliability.