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An etched polymer was evaluated as a substrate suitable for routine SER analysis and was found to perform similarly to crossed gratings and posted quartz wafers. Silver particles were layered onto sheets of etched poly(ethylene terephthalate) by chemical reduction, sputtering, and vapor deposition. Enhancement factors ranged from 104 to >105 for crystal violet on chemically reduced and sputtered surfaces, respectively. Ranges of linearity up to 3 orders of magnitude were attained with limits of detection of ∼5 pg. The variability of response was

Matrix effects caused by thermally ionized elements in laser-enhanced ionziation (LEI) were reduced by using a water-cooled, coil electrode. The behavior of four different coils was studied. The performance of each coil was compared to that of a reference electrode fitting the description of the water-cooled, rodlike cathode designed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Both the linear dynamic range and limit of detection for this coil were generally comparable to those of the water-cooled reference electrode