Amorphous carbon film deposition on the inner surface of tubes using atmospheric pressure pulsed filamentary plasma source

Uniform amorphous carbon film is deposited on the inner surface of quartz tubes having an inner diameter of 6 mm and an outer diameter of 8 mm. A pulsed filamentary plasma source is used for the deposition. Long plasma filaments (similar to 140 mm) are generated inside the tube in argon with methane admixture. FTIR-ATR, XRD, scanning electron microscope, laser scanning microscope and XPS analyses give the conclusion that deposited film is amorphous composed of non-hydrogenated sp(2) carbon and hydrogenated sp(3) carbon. Plasma is characterized using optical emission spectroscopy, voltage-current measurement, microphotography and numerical simulation. On the basis of observed plasma parameters, the kinetics of the film deposition process is discussed.