The study of radio frequency glow discharge of saturated hydrocarbon monomer indicated that the glow forms distinctive glow in plasma polymerization systems. The radio-frequency ethane plasma polymerization in a closed reactor system was studied. The composition of reactive species in the luminous gas phase was monitored during the deposition process by optical emission spectroscopy. Optical emission analysis indicates that polymerizable species are mainly formed in the glow region. It was found that, in such a closed plasma system, the deposition of ethane plasma polymers could be visualized as the batch processes. In the early stage of radio-frequency plasma initiation, the deposition of plasma polymers was dominated by the hydrocarbon based species because the hydrocarbon-based species polymerized much quicker than hydrogen-based species. In the final stage, because of the exhaustion of all polymerizable species in the system, the deposition terminated and the deposited plasma polymer surface was endlessly treated by nonpolymer forming gas plasma. The growth of radio frequency plasma polymerized hydrocarbon film clearly showed the dominating effects of luminous gas phases on the polymerizable tendency in plasma polymerization system. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.