ABSTRACT
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is undoubtedly the fastest growing trace element technique available today. Since its commercialization in 1983, approximately 8000 systems have been installed worldwide for many varied and diverse applications. The most common ones, which represent approximately 80% of the ICP-MS analysis 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 ultratrace level. Even though it can broadly determine the same suite of elements as other atomic spectroscopic techniques, such as flame atomic absorption (FAA), electrothermal atomization (ETA), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission (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. For actual elemental detection limits and isotopic abundances, please refer to Table 20.1 and Figure 2.5 respectively.
