Sodium surface concentration analysis on glass by 23Na(p,α)20Ne nuclear reaction

The 23Na(p,α)20Ne nuclear reaction has been used to investigate the depth profile of Na near the surface of commercial soda-lime-silicate glasses. The depth profile of Na has been quantitatively determined (with a depth resolution of about 120 A) without migration effects due to the measurement method. Such perturbations, which make other analysis techniques difficult to use, appear only with very high current densities of the incident beam. A brief review of the principles of nuclear reaction used to analyse the concentration profile near the surface of samples is presented. A comparison with the traditional methods is discussed. (Auth.)