Glow discharge techniques in analytical chemistry

Wavelength Scanning with a Tilting Interference Filter for Glow-Discharge Elemental Imaging

Glow discharges have long been used for depth profiling and bulk analysis of solid samples. In addition, over the past decade, several methods of obtaining lateral surface elemental distributions have been introduced, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Challenges for each of these techniques are acceptable optical throughput and added instrumental complexity. Here, these problems are addressed with a tilting-filter instrument. A pulsed glow discharge is coupled to an optical system comprising an adjustable-angle tilting filter, collimating and imaging lenses, and a gated, intensified charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, which together provide surface elemental mapping of solid samples. The tilting-filter spectrometer is instrumentally simpler, produces less image distortion, and achieves higher optical throughput than a monochromator-based instrument, but has a much more limited tunable spectral range and poorer spectral resolution. As a result, the tilting-filter spectrometer is limited to single-element or two-element determinations, and only when the target spectral lines fall within an appropriate spectral range and can be spectrally discerned. Spectral interferences that result from heterogeneous impurities can be flagged and overcome by observing the spatially resolved signal response across the available tunable spectral range. The instrument has been characterized and evaluated for the spatially resolved analysis of glow-discharge emission from selected but representative samples.

Determination of Bromine in Flame-Retardant Plastics Using Pulsed Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry

A series of bromine-containing flame-retardant plastics was used to demonstrate the applicability of pulsed radio frequency glow discharge mass spectrometry to the determination of elements in commercial polymers. The direct analysis of bulk samples produced both atomic and molecular species, allowing elemental identification and molecular characterization. However, the low ion signal intensities hindered quantification. Atomization mechanisms for the plastic samples were studied in detail using scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry. Although some thermal desorption was observed, sputter atomization dominated when samples were not subjected to excessive discharge power. The sputter rates of various polymers, as evidenced by sputter weight loss measurements, showed a strong correlation with their ion production capabilities. Sputtering rates were related to the physical and chemical properties inherent to a polymer's composition. Analysis of samples compacted with a silver binder provided intense analyte signals allowing quantitative analysis. Signal stability, measurement accuracy, measurement precision, and detection limits were all assessed.

Glow discharge ionization source for liquid chromatography/particle beam mass spectrometry

A detailed evaluation of the analytical characteristics of a liquid chromatography/particle beam-glow discharge mass spectrometry (LC/PB-GDMS) system is described for applications in the area of inorganic (free metals in solution) and organic compound analysis. A highly efficient particle beam interface is used to introduce analyte species into a glow discharge source for subsequent vaporization and ionization. The GD operating current and gas pressure were optimized, with the general responses found to be similar to those obtained previously for particulate matter analysis by this PB-GDMS system. The mass spectra obtained for inorganic species are comprised exclusively of the respective elements' isotopic patterns, with no evidence of appreciable oxide species formation. Organic species introduced into the discharge through the particle beam interface yield mass spectra that are virtually identical to those from standard electron impact (70 eV) ionization. An analytical response curve for caffeine, using 200-microL (H2O/MeOH) injection volumes, showed less than 5% RSD for replicate injections over a concentration range of 10-500 ppm, with a detection limit of 13 ppb (2.7 ng) obtained for the caffeine molecular ion. Similarly, detection limits for Fe, Ag, and Cs ranged from 5.8 to 6.1 ppb (approximately 1 ng, each) in the injected volume. As an example of the feasibility of the PB-GDMS system as a detector for liquid chromatography, the separation and identification of the organic constituents in diet soda was performed.

Direct generation of ion beam images with a two-dimensional charge injection device

The use of a two-dimensional charge injection device (CID) to directly image the spatial profile of impingent positively charged ions is described. By this approach, no prior conversion from an ion beam to a photon image is required. Because of the positive response of the device to plasma photons, ions that emanated from the radiofrequency glow discharge source were diverted around a photon stop and focused onto the CID. The resultant ion images were digitized via an external image processor and corrected for dark current contributions. Two-dimensional ion images and single pixel line profiles are presented.

Relative ion yields measured with a high-resolution glow discharge mass spectrometer operated with an argon/hydrogen mixture

Quantitative elemental analysis by glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS) requires a calibration factor for each element. The calibration factors used in the present work are called relative ion yields (RIYs). The RIYs of each of 19 elements within samples of four National Institute of Standards and Technology steel reference materials (nos. 661-664) were measured using pure argon and an argon mixture containing 1.0% hydrogen by volume. The RIYs measured using pure argon correlated within a factor of approximately 2-3 to the RIYs calculated by a theoretical model. The RlYs measured for these 19 elements using the argon mixture containing 1.0% hydrogen correlated within a factor of approximately 1.3 to the calculated RIYs. These results may have significant analytical potential with respect to GDMS and may have application to other plasma techniques.

Present and potential applications of mass spectrometry for bioprocess research and control

For on-line monitoring of bioprocesses present applications are mainly restricted to gas analysis, but several techniques have been improved recently: membrane probes, the application of MS/MS techniques, methods of correlating available on-line data like gas reaction rates with bioprocess characteristics using stoichiometric models and other empirical correlations. New ionization and ion separation methods for biomolecules are developing dramatically. Most striking developments in this area are improved desorption techniques, electrospray, the renaissance of time-of-flight instruments and new challenges in ion trap techniques. Enormous progress is made in the analysis of peptides and other biopolymers. Combinations with new separation techniques like capillary electrophoresis and capillary HPLC show new horizons in biomolecule analysis.

A glow discharge ion source with fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometric detection

A glow discharge (CD) ion source has been coupled to a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer using a four-element electrostatic lens to accelerate and focus ions generated external to the instrument's high magnetic field into its analyzer cell. Like other CD mass spectrometers, GD-FT-ICR can provide a quantitative measure of bulk analyte concentration with good precision and accuracy. Although detection limits currently attainable are several orders of magnitude higher than the commercially available magnetic sector-based instrument, CD-FT-ICR holds promise for ultrahigh resolving power elemental mass analysis. Several schemes are proposed to lower the detection limits of the technique while still providing high enough resolution to resolve isobaric interferences.

Theoretical calculations of relative ion yields for glow discharge mass spectrometry

Quantitative determination of the elemental composition of metals and other solids by glow discharge mass spectrometry requires a calibration factor for each element. In past work, these factors, called relative ion yields (RIYs), have been determined experimentally from the mass spectra of standards of certified composition. The RlYs of some elements were found to be over 10 times larger than the RIYs of other elements. In this study a simple calculation of the RIYs of the elements within the same sample is derived from a theoretical framework which takes into account the combined effects of sputtering and ionization. The ionization function involves the electron affinity and the first ionization potential of each element, plus two unknown parameters. By favorable selection of a temperature parameter and a chemical-potential parameter, the RIYs calculated by this method were found to agree satisfactorily with the experimental RlYs of former work. The temperature of 16,000 K (used in this work) corresponds to an average electron energy of ∼ 2 eV.