Glow Discharge Spectrometry Offers Sputtering Times 10 to 100 Times Faster

HORIBA Scientific (HORIBA), global leader in Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry (GDOES), announces a new patented process for fast sputtering of polymers and polymeric containing layers by glow discharge spectrometry.

In Glow Discharge, the material of interest is sputtered using pulsed Radio Frequency plasma; the sputtered species are excited by the same plasma and simultaneously measured in real time with a spectrometer providing elemental composition depth profiles.

The analytical benefits of the new development, first presented in 2012 at HORIBA’s international GD Day, include not only a gain in speed, but also a parallel gain in sensitivity. It also offers fast access to embedded interfaces located below a thick organic layer.

Applications range from automotive organic layers to encapsulated PV cells, and even DVDs. In the last example, nanometer depth resolution was demonstrated below a top layer of 70 microns thickness.