2 research outputs found
Overcoming Pulse Mixing and Signal Tailing in Laser Ablation Inductively couplet Plasma Mass Spectrometry Depth Profiling
The laser ablation-induced plasma was used as a composition-controlled source for ion implantation in Si
crystals. Then, laser ablation in combination with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used
for the elemental depth profiling of the implanted samples. Monte Carlo simulations permitted us to
conclude that a depth resolution of tens of nm would be necessary to define the shape of the implantation
profiles, as is obtained using XPS and RBS, whereas a hundred nm depth resolution is sufficient to
determine the total implanted dose. The detection power of LA-ICP-MS would routinely allow rapid
analytical control on the trace level implanted dose. Nevertheless, this technique is limited in terms of depth
profiling resolution due to pulse mixing and signal tailing induced during the aerosol transport. Raw signal
processing procedures were developed for the minimization of shapeline dispersion, deconvolution of pulse
mixing and more appropriate assessment of the implanted profiles. Shapeline dispersion could be corrected
for by determining the signal waning constant and implementing this information for a non-affine alibi
transformation of the LA-ICP-MS signal traces. Pulse mixing deconvolution was attained with an algorithm
that considered accumulated signal intensity due to pulse-on-pulse stacking, i.e., the latest pulse on top of all
antecedent individual pulses’ exponential tails proportionally