This review aims to provide a summary of some of the challenges in correlating surface science and biology, with particular emphasis on areas where plasma polymerization has and will play an important role as a method to synthesize reproducible and well-defined surfaces. Since the range of possible applications of plasma polymer films in biomaterial applications is immense, this paper will focus on processes to develop various surface morphologies and chemical structures for the immobilization of proteins and cells. Functional, plasma-polymerized films are discussed as biosensitive interfaces that may ultimately be part of a multilayer system that aims at connecting inorganic/metallic transducers with biologically reactive surfaces. These topics will be reviewed with some experimental results taken from the authors' own work. Specific aspects such as adhesion improvement and solvent effects are also discussed.

In the present paper, O-atom kinetics is investigated in low pressure (around 0.7 Pa) O 2 /hexamethyldisiloxane pulsed plasmas by time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy. In order to distinguish direct O-atom excitation by electron impact from dissociative excitation of O 2 , CO, CO 2 and H 2 O molecules formed in O 2 /HMDSO plasmas, measurements were first carried out in pure O 2 , CO 2 and H 2 O plasmas. From these measurements it was concluded that direct O-atom excitation by electron impact was the dominant mechanism and that actinometry could be used to monitor O-atom kinetics provided molecular oxygen dissociative excitation is taken into account. Second, the surface O-atom loss coefficient measured in oxygen pulsed plasmas is in agreement with the literature (10 −1 ) and is five times higher than the one measured in CO 2 pulsed plasma (2 × 10 −2 ). This latter result is attributed to competition effect at surface sites between CO and O. Finally, we point out the influence of water molecule wall adsorption on O-atom kinetics in H 2 O and O 2 /HMDSO pulsed plasmas. During the post-discharge, H 2 O and/or OH molecules adsorbed at the reactor walls strongly reduce the O-atom loss coefficient. During the discharge, ion bombardment enhances desorption of molecules leading to an increase in the O-atom loss coefficient.

Cover: AFM scans (5µm × 5µm) of 500 nm thick films as deposited on Si from processes a) RFICP (full vertical scale: 12.6 nm), b) MIRA (full vertical scale: 44.9 nm), and c) DECRP (full vertical scale: 27.7 nm). Further details can be found in the Full Paper by P. Supiot,* C. Vivien, A. Granier, A. Bousquet, A. Mackova, D. Escaich, R. Clergereaux, P. Raynaud, Z. Stryhal, and J. Pavlik on page 100.

Summary: Five hundred nanometer thick organosilicon coatings are prepared on Si substrates in parallel by the plasma‐assisted polymerisation of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) in an RF‐inductively coupled plasma (RFICP) and distributed electron cyclotron resonance plasma (DECRP) at low pressure (0.27 Pa) and of tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDSO) premixed with oxygen in an N2 microwave induced remote afterglow (MIRA) at 560 Pa. The structure of these different films is analyzed by different techniques, such as Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, and contact angle measurements. Results of the film composition (at least 30% carbon content), optical properties, and morphology indicate a low cross‐linking degree accompanied by short chain length for RFICP and DECRP films, in contrast to a high‐molecular‐weight structure observed for the MIRA film. Carbon removal is achieved within the same plasma reactors by further oxygen‐containing plasma treatment performed in the RF‐ICP (3.33 Pa), DECRP (0.27 Pa, −200 V biased substrate), and MIRA (N2/O2 (98.7:1.3, 560 Pa)) reactors. The same measurements are carried out on the treated samples in order to detect the main changes in film composition, optical properties, and morphology. The evolution of surface energy is also studied. The results are discussed according to film structure and process specificity.O/Si and C/Si elemental ratios calculated from RBS analysis for an as‐deposited RF‐inductively coupled plasma coating (RFICP) and films post‐treated by N2/O2 microwave induced remote afterglow (MIRA), O2 RFICP and O2 distributed electron cyclotron resonance plasma (DECRP, biased sample) processes.imageO/Si and C/Si elemental ratios calculated from RBS analysis for an as‐deposited RF‐inductively coupled plasma coating (RFICP) and films post‐treated by N2/O2 microwave induced remote afterglow (MIRA), O2 RFICP and O2 distributed electron cyclotron resonance plasma (DECRP, biased sample) processes.

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