An ideal hydrophobic surface would have a contact angle of 180 degrees to water. This means that the hydrocarbons lie flat against the surface creating a thin layer and preventing dampening water absorption. However, in practice it is fine or even preferred to have a low level of dampening water absorption because of a phenomenon that occurs when water settles at the surface of paper. This phenomenon is when ink is unable to transfer to the paper because of the water layer at the surface. The contact angle value for hydrocarbons on a rough pigment-coated paper can be found to be approximately 110° through a contact angle meter.
The Youngs equation can be used to calculate the surface energy of a liquid on paper. Youngs equation is:  
where  is the interfacial tension between the solid and the liquid,  is the interfacial tension between the liquid and the vapor, and  is the interfacial tension between the solid and the vapor.
An ideal oleophilic surface would have a contact angle of 0° with oil, therefore allowing the ink to transfer to the paper and be absorbed. The hydrocarbon plasma coating provides an oleophilic surface to the paper by lowering the contact angle of the paper with the oil in the ink. 
The hydrocarbon plasma coating increases the non-polar interactions while decreasing polar interactions which allow paper to absorb ink while preventing dampening water absorption.