Identification of a gas composition based on an optical spectrum of plasma generated in MEMS ion spectrometer

This article describes a method of identification of a gas composition based on an optical emission spectroscopy performed in a miniature MEMS plasma generator. Individual components are detected on the bases of characteristic peaks in the optical spectrum. However, determination of exact proportions of components in a gas mixture is much more problematic. Here, we present how to deal with this issue. We show which initial reference tests needs to be done and what signal processing operations are required to derive relative concentration of each gas specie. The developed method was applied to investigate two- and three-component mixtures of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen.