Influence of discharge parameters on the resolution of depth profiling by pulsed glow discharge atomic emission spectrometry

Electrical properties of the µs pulsed glow discharge in a Grimm-type source: comparison of dc and rf modes

“…3,4 In addition, the sputtering rate is reduced which renders PGD preferable for the analysis of thin films. [5][6][7][8] The pulsing process initiates different excitation and ionization mechanisms at the beginning, during and after the pulse with strong, medium and soft plasma conditions. [9][10][11] Using this feature and time-of-flight mass spectrometry one can extract elemental and molecular information from gaseous samples.…”

Analytical performance of pulsed radiofrequency glow discharge optical emission spectrometry for bulk and in-depth profile analysis of conductors and insulators

“…For example, high instantaneous powers can be used without sample thermal degradation by just varying the duty cycle of the pulses. 12 Moreover, different discharge processes take place at different times within a single pulse and this allows, when coupled to MS and a time resolved signal acquisition detector is available, obtaining quasi-simultaneous structural, molecular and elemental information of the sample. 13,14 Most of the earlier work on PGDs has been focused on dc discharges.…”

Pulsed radiofrequency glow discharge optical emission spectrometry for the direct characterisation of photovoltaic thin film silicon solar cells

“…The pulsed mode gives high instantaneous power without inducing thermal degradation of the sample. 18 Considering that analytical performance of pulsed rf-GD-OES has been very little investigated up to now, a critical comparison between continuous and pulsed GDs for depth profiling analysis of photovoltaic TFSC based on a-Si:H was carefully carried out here, in terms of signals intensity, penetration rates, crater shapes, emission yields, and depth resolution. The influence of the sample substrate roughness on the relative depth resolution and the use of a plasma cleaning approach to improve the quality of depth profiles were also studied.…”