This Technical Specification describes a glow-discharge optical-emission spectrometric method for the determination of the thickness, mass per unit area and chemical composition of metal oxide films. This method is applicable to oxide films 1 nm to 10 000 nm thick on metals. The metallic elements of the oxide can include one or more from Fe, Cr, Ni, Cu, Ti, Si, Mo, Zn, Mg, Mn and Al. Other elements that can be determined by the method are O, C, N, H, P and S.