Use of ellipsometry and gravimetry to develop calibration standards for measuring silicone coat weight and thickness with x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

There are important technological and scientific needs for accurate and pre cise measurements of the weight and thickness of silicone coatings, which a re used in wide-ranging applications. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy offers one means of achieving such measurements. Here we show that, as pre dicted from theory, the intensity of the XRF intensity is linearly proporti onal to the thickness and weight of a relatively thin silicone coating on a poly(carbonate) substrate. This linear relationship is demonstrated using both gravimetry and spectroscopic ellipsometry to provide two independent m easurements of coating thickness, resulting in a robust method for the cali bration of the XRF intensity. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.