The concept of plasma cleaning in glow discharge spectrometry

I. S. Molchan; G. E. Thompson; P. Skeldon; N. Trigoulet; P. Chapon; A. Tempez; J. Malherbe; L. Lobo Revilla; N. Bordel; Ph. Belenguer; T. Nelis; A. Zahri; L. Therese; Ph. Guillot; M. Ganciu; J. Michler; M. Hohl

doi:10.1039/B818343K

The concept of plasma cleaning in glow discharge spectrometry

I. S. Molchan,*^a G. E. Thompson,^a P. Skeldon,^a N. Trigoulet,^a P. Chapon,^b A. Tempez,^b J. Malherbe,^b L. Lobo Revilla,^c N. Bordel,^d Ph. Belenguer,^e T. Nelis,^e A. Zahri,^e L. Therese,^f Ph. Guillot,^f M. Ganciu,^gh J. Michlerⁱ and M. Hohlⁱ

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* Corresponding authors

^a Corrosion and Protection Centre, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
E-mail: igor.molchan@manchester.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)161 3064865
Tel: +44 (0)161 3064828

^b HORIBA Jobin Yvon, Longjumeau, France

^c Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

^d Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

^e Laplace, UMR 5213, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

^f DPHE, ERT 2000, Université J.F Champollion, Albi, France

^g National Institute of Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Bucharest, Magurele, Romania

^h Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, UMR CNRS-UPS 8578, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France

ⁱ EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Laboratory for Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures, Feuerwerkerstr. 39, Thun, Switzerland

Abstract

A plasma cleaning procedure to improve elemental depth profiling of shallow layered materials by glow discharge spectrometry is proposed. The procedure is based on two approaches applied prior to depth profiling, either individually or sequentially. The first approach employs a plasma generated at low power, i.e. a “soft” plasma, for removal of contaminants adsorbed on the surface of the target material. In the second approach, sacrificial material is sputtered under normal conditions, e.g. those used for depth profiling, to clean the inner surface of the anode of the glow discharge source. It is demonstrated that plasma cleaning in glow discharge optical emission spectrometry and glow discharge time-of-flight mass spectrometry improves significantly the spectrum of the target material, particularly at the commencement of sputtering due to stabilisation of the plasma as a result of removal of contaminants. Furthermore, modelling and validation studies confirmed that the soft plasma cleaning does not sputter the target material.

Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry

The concept of plasma cleaning in glow discharge spectrometry

Abstract

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The concept of plasma cleaning in glow discharge spectrometry

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