Apparatus for the deposition of diamondlike carbon as protective coating on an inner surface of a shaped object

摘要

An apparatus for a plasma based deposition process to deposit thin film on the inner surfaces of the shaped objects such as plastic or metallic object like bottles, hollow tubes etc. at room temperature has been developed. With the present invention, uniform hydrogenated amorphous carbon (also called Diamond-Like Carbon, DLC) films on inner surfaces of plastic bottles are successfully deposited. Applications of such product include entire food and drug industries. There is a huge demand of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene naphthalate (PEN)) bottles, meant for the storage of potable water, carbonated soft drinks, wines, medicines etc. However, the higher cost prohibits their widespread use. The cheaper alternative is to use plastic bottles coated inside with chemically inert material such as Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) The process carried out with the inventive apparatus can be scaled up for mass production and can also be used for coating on inner surface of metallic cane or tube with a carbide forming interlayer (like hydrogenated amorphous silicon) to get the DLC films with better adhesion to inner surface of metals.