title: Low temperature plasma processing for cell growth inspired carbon thin films fabrication.
abstract: The recent bio-applications (i.e. bio-sensing, tissue engineering and cell proliferation etc.) are driving the fundamental research in carbon based materials with functional perspectives. High stability in carbon based coatings usually demands the high density deposition. However, the standard techniques, used for the large area and high throughput deposition of crystalline carbon films, often require very high temperature processing (typically >800 °C in inert atmosphere). Here, we present a low temperature (<150 °C) pulsed-DC plasma sputtering process, which enables sufficient ion flux to deposit dense unhydrogenated carbon thin films without any need of substrate-bias or post-deposition thermal treatments. It is found that the control over plasma power density and pulsed frequency governs the density and kinetic energy of carbon ions participating during the film growth. Subsequently, it controls the contents of sp(3) and sp(2) hybridizations via conversion of sp(2) to sp(3) hybridization by ion's energy relaxation. The role of plasma parameters on the chemical and surface properties are presented and correlated to the bio-activity. Bioactivity tests, carried out in mouse fibroblast L-929 and Sarcoma osteogenic (Saos-2) bone cell lines, demonstrate promising cell-proliferation in these films.
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Plasma Surface Technology, NU-SKKU Joint Institute for Plasma-Nano Materials, School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, South Korea. Electronic address: manishk@skku.edu.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Plasma Surface Technology, NU-SKKU Joint Institute for Plasma-Nano Materials, School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Xiang
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Piao
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Plasma Surface Technology, NU-SKKU Joint Institute for Plasma-Nano Materials, School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, South Korea.
authors.forename: Su Bong
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Biological & Nanoscale Materials Lab, Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Heon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Plasma Nanotechnology Research Center, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, 4648603, Japan.
authors.forename: Satomi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.affiliation: Plasma Nanotechnology Research Center, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, 4648603, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Plasma Surface Technology, NU-SKKU Joint Institute for Plasma-Nano Materials, School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, South Korea. Electronic address: hanjg@skku.edu.
authors.forename: Jeon Geon
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001272:Atmosphere; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D003080:Cold Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D058626:Plasma Gases; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013499:Surface Properties; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D058626:Plasma Gases; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Bone cell; Carbon; Cell cultivation; Low temperature plasma; Photoelectron spectroscopy