ABSTRACT
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is undoubtedly the fastestgrowing trace element technique available today. Since its commercialization in 1983, approximately 5000 systems have been installed worldwide, carrying out many varied and diverse applications. The most common ones, which represent approximately 80% of the ICP-MS analyses being carried out today, include environmental, geological, semiconductor, biomedical, and nuclear application fields. There is no question that the major reason for its unparalleled growth is its ability to carry out rapid multielement determinations at the ultra trace level. Even though it can broadly determine the same suite of elements as other atomic spectroscopical techniques, such as flame atomic absorption (FAA), electrothermal atomization (ETA), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), ICP-MS has clear advantages in its multielement characteristics, speed of analysis, detection limits, and isotopic capability. Figure 1.1 shows approximate detection limits of all the elements that can be detected by ICP-MS, together with their isotopic abundance.
