An atmospheric pressure plasma jet setup was used to treat methyl methacrylate monomer, using argon plasma at varying treatment times. Treated samples were then poured onto glass slides and allowed to dry to form a thin-film. Surface characterization was performed using wettability analysis, AFM, XPS and FTIR. Treated samples, ranging from 10–25 min of treatment time all exhibited increased hydrophobic property compared to plain glass and untreated monomer film on glass slide samples. The 20 min treated sample exhibited the highest hydrophobic property with an average contact angle of 92.40°. The upper error bound contact angle value for this parameter is nearly as high as that of commercial MMA. XPS analysis showed a decrease in the presence of O1s peaks for the 20 min treated sample as compared to the untreated control. This supports wettability data, as the presence of polar oxygen bonds would lead to more hydrophilic surfaces.

The effect of varying the water vapor content in a DC magnetron sputtering process was investigated for zinc oxide film formation. The plasma parameters near the substrate surface were measured using a single Langmuir probe, and the deposited films were characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectivity, optical transmittance, and 4-point probe methods. In the region near the substrate surface, the addition of water changes the plasma properties, and the measured plasma parameters showed the changes corresponding to the transition in the film growth mechanism from Zn to ZnO. Depositing at 40% water content resulted to a highly transparent film with a ρ of 1.20 Ω cm. The band gap of films deposited at 40 to 100% settings ranged from 3.36 to 3.34 eV, which matches the expected shallow hydrogen donor doping in ZnO.