Temporal Considerations With a Microsecond Pulsed Glow Discharge

Abstract

A high instantaneous power microsecond pulsed glow discharge reveals many interesting features as an ion source for atomic mass spectrometry and as a photon source for atomic emission spectroscopy. Its advantages over a conventional continuous source are high signal intensity, temporal profile resolution, additional sputtering control and high sample utilization efficiency. It is demonstrated how these features may be useful in solids elemental analysis by mass spectrometry, including thin-layer analysis. In addition, the complementary possibilities of a pulsed atomic emission source are shown for a hollow-cathode lamp and for a glow discharge cell.