Glow discharge optical emission spectrometry elemental mapping with restrictive anode array masks

Large-area surface elemental mapping is highly beneficial for a multitude of applications in fields from materials science to biology. Current typical methods, however, suffer from long acquisition times. Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry (GDOES), under pulsed-power and higher pressure operation, exhibits a great potential for ultrahigh throughput chemical imaging of large surface area samples. Up until now, various proof-of-principle studies of GDOES elemental mapping have only been applied to smaller surface area samples. Thus, there is a need for development of GDOES systems that allow for analysis of large area samples. Here, the design of different GD configurations for large area sample (10 cm diameter) analysis is investigated as a function of operating conditions such as pressure (133–4000 Pa), applied power (up to 5 kW), and pulsing. An open face electrode (OFE) design generated undesirable heterogeneous plasma at the higher pressures required for achieving spatial