DEVICE FOR RADIO FREQUENCY POWERED GLOW DISCHARGE SPECTROMETRY WITH EXTERNAL SAMPLE MOUNT GEOMETRY

摘要

A method and apparatus for analyzing solid sample materials (62) mounted externally to the apparatus is provided wherein a low pressure glow discharge (64) is initiated by applying a radio frequency potential (99) to an integral, continuous solid sample (62) and an electrically grounded anode (68) in the presence of an inert gas, the glow discharge being maintained such that the inert gas is ionized and the ionized gas sputters sample material (62), the sputtered sample material then passing into an analyzer region (32) for analysis.