The determination of soil solution phosphate ions at trace levels is questionable with colorimetric method due to both limit of sensitivity and possible hydrolysis of organic soluble phosphate (P). A simple procedure was developed to determine orthophosphate at trace levels in soil solutions by single-column, suppressed-ion chromatography with conductivity detection without prior sample concentration. The procedure requires column capacity selection and use of a 500-mL injection loop. The method shows a detection limit of 0.05 mg P L 21 as well as a high resolution with a Dionex AS9SC column. The proposed method was tested by analyzing 45 soil samples (Colombian oxisols) 2241 ORDER REPRINTS differently P fertilized. Phosphorus levels in solutions were also determined by green-malachite colorimetry and inductively coupled plasma as reference methods. The linear correlation between the various methods showed that analysis of orthophosphate in the ppb range by ion chromatography are likely more acceptable that value obtained with colorimetry, which hydrolyzed organic P and caused systematic error. Examination of coefficients of variation for the IC method calculated from triplicate analyses of five randomized samples (situated between 7.4 and 16.3 mg P L 21 ) showed value ranged from 2.0 to 6.7%.The procedure allows precise measurements of trace amounts of orthophosphate in the presence of moderate background levels of salts such as chloride, nitrate, and sulfate ions and was adequate for routine analysis.
InP surface passivation has been realized by a convenient chemical bath deposition (CBD) of a thin CdS layer. For comparison, samples without any treatments and/or with only a thin SiO2 layer were also prepared. Also studied was the effect of a thin layer of SiO2 deposited immediately after the CdS deposition. Schottky contacts were made on the CdS-passivated InP by electron-beam deposition of Ti/Au. Electrical characterization was conducted by current-voltage (I-V) and current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) measurements. It was found that the electrical performance of the Schottky contacts of the CdS-passivated InP samples was improved significantly. The thickness (deposition time) of the CdS strongly affects the device electrical performance. The additional SiO2-on-CdS layer plays a key role in the process of InP surface passivation. Post-treatment in the CdS deposition process also strongly affects the surface morphology and electrical properties. Surface morphology studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicates that the surface roughness increased after CdS deposition, though the degree of roughness is reverse proportional to the CdS process time. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows that the CdS layer protects the InP substrate during the oxide deposition.
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