Page 304 - Inorganic Mass Spectrometry - Fundamentals and Applications

Ann Arbor ~ichi~an

Within the past 10 years inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-
has engendered more effort and excitement within academia and industry than any
other area of inorganic mass Spectrometry. A few years ago the first papers de-
scribing preliminary results from a new kind of double-focusing ICP-MS that in-
corporates simultaneo~s measurement with multiple Faraday detectors were pub-
lished (Walder and Freedman, 1992; Walder et al., 1993a,b). With a prototype
the
iso-
instrument, these authors demonstrated that they could accurately measure
topic compositions of Sr, Nd, Hf, Pb, and U with the high precision and repro-
ducibility characteristic of thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), but by
nebulizing a solution. The sensitivity (ions detected per atoms utilized) was better
than that achievable by TIMS for elements such as Hf, with very high first ioniza-
tion potential, but comparable or somewhat inferior for other elements. The ease

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