A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) technique has been employed to produce uniform atmospheric plasmas of He and N-2 gas mixtures in open air in order to functionalize the surface of filtered-arc deposited hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. XPS measurements were carried out on both untreated and He/N-2 DBD plasma-treated DLC surfaces. Chemical states of the C 1s and N 1s peaks were collected and used to characterize the surface bonds. Contact angle measurements were also used to record the short- and long-term variations in wettability of treated and untreated DLC. In addition, cell viability tests were performed to determine the influence of various He/N-2 atmospheric plasma treatments on the attachment of osteoblast MC3T3 cells. Current evidence shows the feasibility of atmospheric plasmas in producing long-lasting variations in the surface bonding and surface energy of hydrogen-free DLC and consequently the potential for this technique in the functionalization of DLC-coated devices. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.