Practical Analysis of materials with depth varying compositions using FT-IR photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS)

Abstract

FT-IR photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) is discussed as a nondestructive method to probe the molecular composition of materials versus depth on the basis of the analysis of layers of experimentally controllable thickness, which are measured from the sample surface to depths of some tens of micrometers, depending on optical and thermal properties. Computational methods are described to process photoacoustic amplitude and phase spectra for both semi-quantitative and quantitative depth analyses. These methods are demonstrated on layered and gradient samples