Characteristics of a microwave driven 3.4 cm diameter compact ion/atom source equipped with permanent magnets were tested. The source can be mounted to a standard copper gasket flange, and microwave power is supplied through an N-type microwave connector. The ion source plasma was observed through an ion extraction hole with an optical emission spectrometer. Peak height of an optical line spectrum emission corresponding to atomic nitrogen increased in proportion to the microwave input power. Quadrupole mass spectrometer showed that N(+) and N(2)(+) were the dominant species in the extracted ion beam. Nitrogen ion current density of 0.23 mA/cm(2) was obtained with only 10 W discharge power and 6 x 10(-3) Pa source surrounding pressure.