Elemental Analysis Laboratory

Department of Chemistry  -  Texas A&M University

Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission - Mass Spectrometry (Laser Ablation)                   A general description of the method. 

William D. James

Introduction:

Inductively coupled plasma emission was developed in the 1970's as a sensitive multielement analytical method with potential to make trace determinations at the ppb level and below.  More recently the addition of characterization of ionized species from the plasma torch with a mass spectrometer has revolutionized elemental analysis.  In short, the concept of the method is that elements in solution are aspirated in to a nebulizer which atomizes the solution in a spray carried by argon gas.  The atomized solution is directed into an RF generated argon plasma flame.  Positive ion species produced in the torch are swept into the vacuum environment of the mass spectrometer through an interface region.  Ions are separated by their mass to charge ratios using either a magnetic sector or quadrupole spectrometer.

Instrumentation:

The laboratory operates a Perkin Elmer DRCII ICP-MS with both solution and laser ablation capabilities.  The spectrometer is a quadrupole based and incorporates the latest dynamic reaction cell (DRC) technology to minimize the effects of interferences from molecular ions present in the system.  A New Wave laser ablation system built around their 213 nm YAG class 4 laser is available to study solid samples, whether homogeneous bulk material or surface layers.

Please send questions, comments, etc. regarding these pages to wd-james@tamu.edu.