ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the most common quantitation methods available in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The ability of ICP-MS to carry out isotopic measurements allows the technique to carry out quantitation methods that are not available to any other trace element technique. They include the following: quantitative analysis, semiquantitative routines, isotope dilution, isotope ratio, and internal standardization. Each of these techniques offers varying degrees of accuracy and precision; so, it is important to understand their strengths and weaknesses to know which one will best meet the data quality objectives of the analysis. As in other more trace element techniques such as atomic absorption (AA) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), quantitative analysis in ICP-MS is the fundamental tool used to determine analyte concentrations in unknown samples. However, because ICP-MS is usually used for multielement analysis, multielement standards are typically used to generate calibration data.
