Impact of RF-GD-OES in practical surface analysis

The capabilities of RF-GD-OES for depth profiling analysis are illustrated based on the recent results from the authors’ laboratories. Through the analysis of a hard disk, a thin anodic alumina layer with a delta function marker layer, and a 5-nm thick air-formed oxide film on sputter deposited stainless steel, it is demonstrated that RF-GD-OES has enormous potential for depth profiling analysis of ultra-thin layers, less than 10-nm thick, as well as films of several tens of microns thickness. The remarkable features of RF-GD-OES arise from the nature of RF-GD sputtering where samples, conducting or non-conducting, are sputtered stably with Ar+ ions of very low energy (<50 eV) and a current flux of the order of ∼100 mA cm−2.