QUANTIFICATION OF THE GD OES IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS - ONE-WAY FOR ITS REALIZATION - ITS CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS

The quantification of in-depth profiles measured by means of glow discharge optical emission spectrometry is complicated due to the complexity of the coupled processes going on in the discharge volume. On the basis of experimentally confirmed relationships between the emission line intensity, the sputtering rate and the discharge current, a procedure for the conversion of qualitative intensity vs. time curves into concentration vs. depth profiles is established in the case of a constant voltage discharge. This procedure is applied to the in-depth analysis of well characterized oxide scale on high temperature 3d-transition metal alloys. The capabilities and limitations of this procedure are discussed.