Factors influencing signal profiles in microsecond pulsed glow discharge atomic emission spectrometry

The effects of discharge conditions on the temporal profiles of sputtered atoms and gas species in a microsecond (mus) pulsed glow discharge (GD) plasma were investigated. A sequential scanning monochromator accompanied with a gated detection system was used to measure the spectral intensity. Substantial improvement in signal intensity has been realized compared with that of dc operation. Among the parameters investigated, voltage and pressure are dominant factors affecting emission profiles. The results are useful for describing various spectrochemical properties of the pulsed glow discharge and for parameter optimization.