Effect of surface topography in the generation of chemical maps by laser-induced plasma spectroscopy

The development of technologically advanced materials is propelling the improvement of surface analytical techniques. In particular, the composition and hence the properties of most of these new materials are spatial dependent. Between the techniques able to provide chemical spatial information, laser-induced plasma spectroscopy known also as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a very promising analytical technique. During the last decade, LIBS was successfully applied to the analysis of surfaces and the generation of chemical maps of heterogeneous materials. In the LIBS analysis, several experimental factors including surface topography must be taken into account. In this work, the influence of surface roughness in LIBS signal during the point analysis and acquisition of chemical maps was studied. For this purpose, samples of stainless steel with different surface finishes were prepared and analyzed by LIBS. In order to characterize the different surfaces, confocal microscopy images were obtained. Afterwards, both topographic and spectroscopic information were combined to show the relationship between them. Additionally, in order to reveal the effect of surface topography in the acquisition of chemical maps, a three dimensional analysis of a sample exhibiting two different finishes was carried out.