A system for depositing a thin film on a flexible substrate, comprising: a first zone supplied with a first precursor gas when the system is in use; a second zone supplied with a second precursor gas when the system is in use; a series of flow-restricting passageways (122, 126) arranged to open into the first zone and the second zone, wherein the flow-restricting passageways are spaced apart from one another along a general direction of travel of a flexible substrate to provide a pathway along which a flexible substrate is threaded so that, when the system is in use, the flexible substrate is exposed to the first and second precursor gases in the first and second zones; a plasma generator positioned along the pathway within the second zone to generate radicals of the second precursor gas that are reactive with an amount of the first precursor gas previously adsorbed to the flexible substrate upon its exposure to the first precursor gas, the plasma generator including two electrodes (134, 136) that are arranged to be electrically isolated from one another and to extend toward one another in planes paralleling a portion of the pathway in the second zone, a first of the two electrodes including a pair of electrically connected conductors (134A, 134B, 202, 304, 404) spaced apart from one another and positioned on either side of a conductor (136, 212, 302, 402) included in a second of the two electrodes so that one of the conductors in the first electrode is positioned between the pathway and the conductor included in the second electrode; a power supply arranged to be electrically connected with the plasma generator; and a substrate transport mechanism adapted to guide the flexible substrate back and forth between the first and second zones along the pathway and through the series of flow-restricting passageways so that a surface of the flexible substrate is transported past the plasma region and exposed to the radicals when the system is in use. a first zone supplied with a first precursor gas when the system is in use; a second zone supplied with a second precursor gas when the system is in use; a series of flow-restricting passageways (122, 126) arranged to open into the first zone and the second zone, wherein the flow-restricting passageways are spaced apart from one another along a general direction of travel of a flexible substrate to provide a pathway along which a flexible substrate is threaded so that, when the system is in use, the flexible substrate is exposed to the first and second precursor gases in the first and second zones; a plasma generator positioned along the pathway within the second zone to generate radicals of the second precursor gas that are reactive with an amount of the first precursor gas previously adsorbed to the flexible substrate upon its exposure to the first precursor gas, the plasma generator including two electrodes (134, 136) that are arranged to be electrically isolated from one another and to extend toward one another in planes paralleling a portion of the pathway in the second zone, a first of the two electrodes including a pair of electrically connected conductors (134A, 134B, 202, 304, 404) spaced apart from one another and positioned on either side of a conductor (136, 212, 302, 402) included in a second of the two electrodes so that one of the conductors in the first electrode is positioned between the pathway and the conductor included in the second electrode; a power supply arranged to be electrically connected with the plasma generator; and a substrate transport mechanism adapted to guide the flexible substrate back and forth between the first and second zones along the pathway and through the series of flow-restricting passageways so that a surface of the flexible substrate is transported past the plasma region and exposed to the radicals when the system is in use.