The Accurate Determination of Bulk Glasses and Glass Film Compositions by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectronmtry

Abstract

ABSTRACTA sequential inductivly coupled plasma-atomnic emission spectrrnetric (ICP-AES) method has been dewvloped for the cnmplete quantitative analyses of silicate glasses. B, P, Ge, and Si have been determined with 2%precisicn and accuracy in bulk glass and glass films on Si wafer substrates. Two chemical sample processing steps, dissdution in hydrofluoric acid at roam temperature and fusion in a sodium carbonate flux, were equally effective for deconposing samples without loss of volatile components. Rapid analysis for controlling glass film composition during IC process devlopment wer provided by the ICP-AES maethod. Where accurate film w~ghts were not obtainable, coatpositions wee established by complete analyses of all glass components except cxygen. The sum of the weights of components converted to their cides served as the sample weight for calculation purposes.