Improvement of Signal Stability by a Cyclone-type Particle Separator for Ceramic Analysis using Laser Ablation ICP-MS

Experimental

Four ceramic powders with different particle size were prepared. ITO and MgO powders, spotlighted ceramics as a new display material, were prepared by sol-gel method in the size of 50 nm and 1 mm, respectively. The densities of ITO and MgO were measured to be 2.12 and 0.95 g/cm3, respectively. Two alumina powders, AES12 with high purity and AL-41 with low soda, were purchased from Sumitomo (Japan). The physical properties of the ceramic powders were listed in Table 1

Table 1.Physical properties of ceramic powder samples

For laser ablation, the powders were pressed with 1,500 pascal in the diameter of 40 mm using a press (HERZOG PT 40/2D, GmbH Co., Germany). The prepared pellets were ablated and analyzed semi-quantitatively using the laser ablation system (LSX-100, Cetac, Inc., Omaha) equipped with a frequency-quadrupled neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser operated under Q-switched mode. The ablated samples were analyzed by ICP-MS (Elan 6000, Perkin-Elmer Sciex, Concord). Typical operating conditions of the laser ablation ICP-MS system were summarized in table 2. The flow rate of Ar and He gas was adjusted to 1.0 L/min and 0.9 L/min, respectively.

Table 2.Instrumental operating conditions of ICP-MS and laser ablation system