Glass surface analysis profiles

If the rf source is applied to the analysis of conducting bulk samples its figures of merit are very similar to those of the dc source [4.208]. This is also shown by comparative depth-profile analyses of commercial coatings an steel [4.209, 4.210]. The capability of the rf source is, however, unsurpassed in the analysis of poorly or nonconducting materials, e.g. anodic alumina films [4.211], chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-coated tool steels [4.212], composite materials such as ceramic coated steel [4.213], coated glass surfaces [4.214], and polymer coatings [4.209, 4.215, 4.216]. These coatings are used for automotive body parts and consist of a number of distinct polymer layers on a metallic substrate. The total thickness of the paint layers is typically more than 100 pm. An example of a quantitative depth profile on prepainted metal-coated steel is shown as in Fig. 4.39. 

Various surface analysis techniques show that silicate glasses rapidly develop surface compositional profiles when exposed to water. When water is present as a vapor an alkali-rich layer (presumably a hydrated alkali carbonate) forms over the SiOj-rich layer. Water as a liquid dissolves the alkali and leaves the silica-rich film. As long as this SiC -rich film is stable the rate of corrosion due to diffusion is reduced with exposure time. Addition of multi-valent species to the glass or reactant results in formation of a complex protective surface layer in the glass which may be stable over a wide range of environmental conditions. 

Fig. 13 Fluorescent Images and the corresponding line profiles of the F-actin fibers red) of ADSCs seeded on (a) glass surface and (b) silk fibroin/chitosan (SFCS) scaffold. F-actin fiber density of ADSCs was quantified and confirmed by line-profile analysis of the fibers using Image software. The x-axis is the distance in microns, and the peaks correspond to the intensity of the rhodamine-phalloidin stain (red), whose peak maximum occurs at the location of the fibers along the line. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) [162]...

Some solid materials are very intractable to analysis by standard methods and cannot be easily vaporized or dissolved in common solvents. Glass, bone, dried paint, and archaeological samples are common examples. These materials would now be examined by laser ablation, a technique that produces an aerosol of particulate matter. The laser can be used in its defocused mode for surface profiling or in its focused mode for depth profiling. Interestingly, lasers can be used to vaporize even thermally labile materials through use of the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) method variant. 

The introduction of rfpowered sources has extended the capability of GD-OES to non-conductors, and several rf sources of different design have become commercially available. This is of the greatest importance for surface and depth-profile analysis, because there exists a multitude of technically and industrially important non-conductive coating materials (e. g. painted coatings and glasses) which are extremely difficult to analyze by any other technique. 

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