High sensitivity quadrupole mass spectrometry of neutrals sputtered by UV-laser ablation of polymers

Laser Ablation-Sputtered Neutrals Spectrometry is developed as a portable system which consists of a commercial gas analyser (quadrupole mass spectrometer with e-beam ionization) in ultrahigh vacuum. ArF and KrF ablation of 20 polymers yielded mass spectra (1–200), rich in information, and mass intensity versus etching time for depth profiling analysis. The sensitivity is very high (100 ng of polymer can be probed) and microablation can be recorded by LA-SNMS.