Technique for the analysis of insulating materials by glow discharge mass spectrometry

The present invention describes a technique for sample preparation and analysis of ceramics and oxides. The technique involves mixing the ceramic or oxide powder with a conducting powder such as gallium, indium or silver and adding a small amount of dopant. The dopant comprises approximately 5-30% by weight of the sample and is selected from the group comprising thoria, yttria or ytterbia. It is theorized that the addition of the dopant provides a source of electrons that stabilizes the plasma in the glow discharge mass spectrometer which allows for impurity analysis in the part-per-million range.