Previewing a Talk on Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy

At the upcoming Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, taking place from January 9–17^th, Gerardo Gamez, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and Graduate Advisor at Texas Tech University, is set to deliver a talk titled “Characterization of Particles from the Nano to the Micro Scale via Glow Discharge Spectroscopy” (1).

Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES) is a cathodic sputtering technique valued for its ability to perform quantitative elemental depth profiling with nanometer-scale resolution and high throughput (2). Although its lateral resolution has traditionally been limited to millimeter-scale sputtered areas, recent advances using pulsed power operation have enabled laterally resolved information within the sputtered region (2). These developments have allowed for the rapid mapping of large areas while supporting fast chemical imaging (2).

In the first part of our interview with Gamez, he offers a preview of what he will be speaking about at the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry and gives his thoughts about what he is looking forward to at the conference.

Spectroscopy: Can you provide a brief overview of your talk at the Winter Conference and what you will be discussing?

Gerardo Gamez: The talk will cover the most recent work regarding new developments to expand the capabilities of global discharge optical emission spectroscopy, or GDOES, for short, and this is specifically towards the analysis of nanoparticles and microparticles that are relevant in a variety of fields, including biomedical, environmental energy, and material science and technology, just to name a few. GDOES has traditionally been developed for bulk and thin film analysis. Because of its fast, direct, solid sampling capabilities and also depth profiling with resolution in the nanoscale, it also provides quantitative, multielemental analysis capabilities with a wide dynamic range. But we leverage these capabilities together with some advances in elemental mapping to enable fast characterization of nanoparticles. This is within seconds, so we can do that in terms of composition, mass, spatial distribution, and even size or structural features. So, we will show how you know this approach is also advantageous towards studying and particle interactions with culture cells. I'll also present on the proof of principle for harnessing the advantages of the technique towards single-particle analysis at the micro scale level. And so this way, we can overcome some limitations of traditional approaches.

This video clip is the first part of our conversation with Gamez. To stay up to date on our coverage of the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, click here.

References

1. IASA, Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry. IASA. Available at: https://iasa.world/winter-plasma-conference (accessed 2026-01-06).
2. Texas Tech University, Dr. Gerardo Gamez. TTU.edu. Available at: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/chemistry/Faculty/gamez/ (accessed 2026-01-06).