Atomic spectrometry update. Industrial analysis: metals, chemicals and advanced materials

Simon Carter, Andy S. Fisher, Phill S. Goodall, Michael W. Hinds, Steve Lancaster and Sian Shore

There is considerable interest in the non-destructive analysis of archaeological or historical materials (glasses, ceramics, paintings, materials etc.). The use of solid sampling techniques that cause minimal damage is therefore still gaining in popularity. This is especially true for laser-based techniques such as LIBS and laser ablation, although the many variants of the X-ray-based techniques are also still proving very popular. Non-destructive analysis is also the ideal scenario for forensic scientists and therefore many of these applications are using similar techniques. The increasing trend to use multiple analytical techniques, ideally simultaneously, to cause minimal damage and to obtain the maximal number of results in the shortest time, is also noted. The technique of LIBS, which offers minimal sample damage and a “stand-off” capability is still gaining in popularity, although there are still question marks regarding its quantitative capabilities for some sample types. There is also considerable interest in the growing area of thin films and depth-profiling. Substantial research is on-going to develop methods to improve depth-resolution and several different approaches have been described in the literature. These approaches often use SIMS with either a lower energy primary beam or a primary beam consisting of polyatomic molecules.