Medicinal inhalation devices and components thereof
A medicinal inhalation device having a non-metal coating applied by plasma deposition under ion bombardment conditions.
1. A method of making a medicinal inhalation device or a component of a medicinal inhalation device comprising a step of forming by plasma deposition under ion bombardment conditions a non-metal coating on at least a portion of a surface of the device or the component, respectively.
2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the non-metal coating comprises silicon, oxygen and hydrogen.
3. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the non-metal coating further comprises carbon.
4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the non-metal coating is a diamond-like glass containing on a hydrogen free basis at least about 20atomic percent carbon and at least about 30 atomic percent of silicon+oxygen.
5. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the silicon to oxygen ratio in the non-metal coating is less than two.
6. A method according to claim 1 wherein the non-metal coating is substantially free of fluorine; and optionally the method is free of a step of applying a fluorine-containing over-coating onto the surface of the non-metal coating.
7. A medicinal inhalation device or a component of a medicinal inhalation device comprising a non-metal coating plasma deposited on at least a portion of a surface of the device or the component, respectively, said coating being plasma deposited under ion bombardment conditions.
8. A device or a component according to claim 7 , wherein the non-metal coating comprises silicon and oxygen.
9. A device or a component according claim 8 , wherein the non-metal coating further comprises hydrogen and carbon; and wherein the silicon to oxygen ratio in the non-metal coating is less than two.
10. A device or a component according to claim 7 , wherein the non-metal coating is a diamond-like glass coating.
11. A device or a component according to claim 7 , wherein the non-metal coating is covalently bonded to the at least a portion of a surface of the device or the component, respectively; and wherein the non-metal coating has a micro-hardness as determined using a nanoidenter of at least 1 GPa; and wherein the non-metal coating has a micro-elastic-modulus as determined using a nanoidenter of at least 11 GPa.
12. A medicinal inhalation device or a component of a medicinal inhalation device comprising a diamond-like glass coating on at least a portion of a surface of the device or the component, respectively.
13. A device or a component according to claim 12 , wherein the diamond-like glass coating contains on a hydrogen free basis at least about 20 atomic percent carbon and at least about 30 atomic percent of silicon+oxygen.