Method of measuring depth profile of hydrogen in soda-lime glass

The depth profile of hydrogen in glass, as an indicator for the presence of water, has been determined by two independent techniques. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) gives high spatial resolution measurements of the variation of hydrogen concentration as a function of depth into the glass. These measurements are not absolute, however. Elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) provides absolute measurements of the variation of hydrogen concentration with depth, although the spatial resolution is only in the order of 50 nm. The combination of the measurements obtained by these two techniques yields absolute high-resolution data of the depth dependence of hydrogen in glass.