Patent ID: 9508539
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: H01J

Claim Text:
1. A glow discharge mass spectrometry method comprising the following steps: a. placing a sample to be analyzed by glow discharge mass spectrometry in a cell of a glow discharge lamp; b. pumping a flow of gaseous species out of said cell; c. injecting a flow of plasma gas into said cell; d. applying an electric power to the electrodes of the glow discharge cell so as to light an ablation plasma at the surface of the sample to be analyzed; e. detecting ionized species of the plasma, analyzing said ionized species and measuring the species detected by glow discharge mass spectrometry; wherein said glow discharge mass spectrometry method further includes the following steps: f. heating a gas flow to a temperature T higher than the ambient temperature; g. injecting, into the glow discharge cell, said flow of gas heated to the temperature T for a duration D before the step d) of lighting the ablation plasma; and h. pumping a flow of gaseous species out of said cell for the duration D, so as to decontaminate the surface of the sample and/or the internal walls of the glow discharge cell before the lighting of the ablation plasma.