ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a brief overview of the fundamental principles of ion formation in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)—the use of a high-temperature argon plasma to generate positively charged ions. It emerges as an aerosol, where it eventually finds its way, via a sample injector, into the base of the plasma. It is the generation, transportation, and detection of significant numbers of positively charged ions that gives ICP-MS its characteristic ultratrace detection capabilities. It must be emphasized that this is not meant to be an accurate representation of the electron's shells and subshells, but just a conceptual explanation for the purpose of clarity. To make this a little easier to understand, the chapter takes a closer look at an element such as copper, which only has two different isotopes-one with an atomic mass of 63 and another with an atomic mass of 65.
