One of the most widely utilized and well-established atomic oxygen (AO) protection solutions for LEO satellites is the deposition of protective coatings on polymeric materials. However, manufacturing extensive expanses of coating materials with good transparency, flexibility, smoothness, ultra-thinness, and exceptional AO resistance remains a critical issue. Herein, we successfully deposited a 400 nm thick polyorgansiloxane (SiOxCyHz) coating with high optical transparency and uniform good adherence on a 1.2 m wide polyimide surface by optimizing the distribution of hexamethyldisiloxane and oxygen as precursors in the roll-to-roll compatible plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process. After AO irradiation with the fluence of 7.9 × 1020 atoms cm–2, the erosion yield of the SiOxCyHz -coated Kapton was less than 2.30 × 10–26 cm3 atom–1, which was less than 0.77% of that of the Kapton. It indicates that the SiOxCyHz coating can well prevent the erosion of Kapton by AO. In addition, it was also clarified that a SiO2 passivation layer was formed on the surface of the SiOxCyHz coating during AO irradiation, which exhibited a “self-reinforcing” defense mechanism. The entire preparation process of the SiOxCyHz coating was highly efficient and low-cost, and it has shown great application potential in LEO.

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Copper thin films were deposited by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition at low temperature, using copper(I)-N,N′-di-sec-butylacetamidinate as a precursor and hydrogen as a reductive gas. The influence of temperature, plasma power, mode of plasma, and pulse time, on the deposition rate of copper thin film, the purity of the film and the step coverage were studied. The feasibility of copper film deposition on the inner wall of a carbon fibre reinforced plastic waveguide with high aspect ratio was also studied. The morphology and composition of the thin film were studied by atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The square resistance of the thin film was also tested by a four-probe technique. On the basis of on-line diagnosis, a growth mechanism of copper thin film was put forward, and it was considered that surface functional group played an important role in the process of nucleation and in determining the properties of thin films. A high density of plasma and high free-radical content were helpful for the deposition of copper thin films.