Surface elemental microanalysis with submicron lateral resolution by the laser-ablation laser-induced fluorescence technique

In order to realize surface elemental microanalysis of solid samples with submicron lateral resolution, laser-ablation (LA) combined with high sensitive laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection was investigated. A 532 nm or 266 nm nanosecond laser pulse with low pulse energy was used to realize submicron laser-ablation on the surface of a copper alloy, and LIF technique was used to sensitively detect a minor lead element in the ablated samples. ~344 nm and ~267 nm lateral resolutions could be achieved experimentally under 532 nm and 266 nm laser ablations under the current experimental condition, respectively. This demonstrated the feasibility of using a LA-LIF technique for surface elemental microanalysis of solid samples with submicron spatial resolution. The potentials of continually improving the spatial resolution of this technique to nanoscale were discussed.