Analytical Sciences

Depth Profiling of Ultra Trace Metal Impurities in Polytetrafluoroethylene Wares by Surface Scraping and Acid-Vapor Extraction Followed by ICP-MS Analysis

Masafumi TANAKA  and Makoto TAKAHASHI

Research and Development Center, Toshiba Ceramics Company Limited, Soya, Hadano, Kanagawa 257-8566, Japan

This paper describes the development of the depth profiling method of ultra trace metal impurities in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) wares based on contamination-free sampling followed by acid-vapor extraction and its application to evaluate the washing method for PTFE wares. A contamination-free sampling process was achieved by scraping the surface of PTFE wares with the cleft face of a silicon wafer followed by exposing the PTFE scraped to highly pure acid-vapor. The concentration of metal impurities in extractants was determined by ICP-MS equipped with an electrothermal vaporizer (ETV-ICP-MS). The blank values of Al, Cr, Fe, Ni and Cu by the depth profiling method were 0.006, 0.004, 0.005, 0.002 and 0.003 ng, respectively. By analyzing the depth profile of beakers, the distributions of ultra trace (ng g^-1 level) metal impurities were clarified. An examination of the washing methods by the depth profiling method also clarified that exposing to acid-vapor was more effective than the acid-dipping method for the elimination of metal impurities.

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