Over the past twenty years or so, glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS) has become the industry standard for the analysis of trace elements in metals and semiconductors. A review of its history is followed by a picture of the present situation and a look to where the future may lie. Applications are summarised, including the ability of GDMS to offer depth-resolved data and non-conductor analysis, and the well-documented quantitative nature of the results is reviewed. The effects resulting from the physical properties of the analyte material are discussed at length. Finally, recent work such as "fast flow" sources and pulsed glow discharges is reviewed.

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The performance of glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry for oxygen determination is investigated using a set of new conductive samples containing oxygen in the percent range in three different matrices (Al, Mg, and Cu) prepared by a sintering process. The sputtering rate corrected calibrations obtained at standard conditions for the 4 mm anode (700 V, 20 mA) in GD-OES are matrix independent for Mg and Al but not for Cu. The importance of a “blue shifted” line of oxygen at 130.22 nm (first reported by Köster) for quantitative analyses by GD-OES is confirmed. Matrix-specific calibrations for oxygen in GD-MS are presented. Two source concepts—fast flow (ELEMENT GD) and low gas flow (VG9000)—are evaluated obtaining higher sensitivity with the static flow source. Additional experiments using Ar-He mixtures or μs pulsed GD are carried out in ELEMENT GD aiming to improve the oxygen sensitivity.

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A microsecond pulsed glow discharge (PGD) is applied to an existing commercial sector-field mass spectrometer to develop a system for routine analysis with PGD. The detection limits obtained are of the same order of magnitude as in DC discharge, which is explained by the geometry of the existing discharge cell. Additionally, the dynamics of ions extracted from PGD are measured for further development of pulsed ion detection.