Electronic materials analytical techniques, capabilities

The nature of solid, liquid or gaseous inclusions that may be found within transparent inorganic glass or crystalline materials can be determined by Raman microprobe techniques without breaking up the sample (39). Other analytical techniques, such as mass spectroscopy or electron microscopy, that may be used to obtain such information require destruction of the original sample. This capability of the microprobe is useful if one wants to analyze inclusions in a material before and after a sample treatment. The only limitation is that the position of the inclusion in the material must be located within the working distance of the objective lens in the microscope (39). 

Neutron depth profiling has been applied in many areas of electronic materials research, as discussed here and in the references. The simplicity of the method and the interpretation of data are described. Major points to be made for NDP as an analytical technique include i) it is nondestructive il) isotopic concentrations are determined quantitatively iii) profiling measurements can be performed in essentially all solid materials, however depth resolution and depth of analysis are material dependent iv) NDP is capable of profiling across interfacial boundaries and v) there are few interferences. 

Virtually any type of inorganic and organic sample can be analyzed in ICP-AES using the multielement capability of the technique biological samples, metals, alloys, electronic materials, glass, ceramics, environmental samples, oils, geological samples, and so on. This versatility combined with adequate analytical performance at a reasonable cost justify the current acceptance of this technique, which is illustrated by the number of instrument companies involved in this field. 

It will be apparent that the analytical use of bioelectrochemical methods depends on many factors including the use of the novel design of electrodes and the employment of the direct electrochemistry of enzymes, whether modified or not. Probably the defect of all the present methods is the modest sensitivity of bioelectrochemical methods. This is obviously important if these techniques are going to give rise to devices capable of sensing components of the immune system, to say nothing of DNA and RNA analyses. Obviously it is possible to provide considerable amplification from the electronic apparatus associated with the biochemical materials employed but the latter will have to be made more sensitive, perhaps, for example, by a series of coupled enzymatic reactions, before the full advantages of these techniques can be exploited. 

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