Yankuang ceshi (Nov 2020)

Study on the Morphology of Zircon-bearing Epoxy Resin Surface and Its Effect for LA-ICP-MS Analysis

  • HU Zhi-zhong,
  • WANG Kun-yang,
  • YAN Xiong,
  • YANG Bo,
  • DU Gu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15898/j.cnki.11-2131/td.201909210135
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 39, no. 6
pp. 804 – 815

Abstract

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BACKGROUND Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is currently one of the commonly used methods for zircon research. This method generally uses epoxy resin targets as carriers. Studying the effect of the surface morphology and flatness of epoxy resin targets helps to evaluate its production process and the accuracy of LA-ICP-MS zircon analysis. OBJECTIVES To study the influence of the surface morphology of epoxy resin for zircon analysis by LA-ICP-MS. METHODS Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to analyze the surface morphology of zircon epoxy resin target, and the zircon surface morphology was studied by analyzing and comparing the zircon surface morphology under different ablation modes and different ablation conditions of 193nm laser. The influence of flatness on LA-ICP-MS zircon analysis was discussed. Argon ion polishing technology was used to perform secondary polishing on the zircon epoxy resin target, and the influence of this technology on the zircon epoxy resin target was investigated. RESULTS The surface of the zircon epoxy resins was generally smooth but slightly uneven. There were scratches from a few to tens nm on the surface of the zircon. The differences in height and gaps existed between zircons and epoxy resin. The slightly uneven surface had less impact on the analysis accuracy than other laser parameters such as energy density, frequency and movement rate. The depth and morphology of different matrices by linear scanning were dissimilar. The scanning depths on the NIST610, CGSG series, zircon 91500 decreased under the same laser condition. The scratches of zircon surface were not obvious after Ar-ion milling, but the zircons may have been damaged. CONCLUSIONS The surface morphology of zircon epoxy resins has less impact on the analysis accuracy for LA-ICP-MS. The influence and application of Ar-ion milling for LA-ICP-MS needs further study.

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