Semiquantitative Survey Capabilities of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

The capabilities of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for elemental survey analysis have been characterized. The analysis is a three-step process which involves collecting a spectrum from mass 5 to 240, deconvolving the spectrum into elemental constituents, and converting the elemental count rates to concentrations. The entire process takes less than 10 min per sample. Detection limits are generally less than 1 ng/mL, and the precision of 16 replicate analyses of a sample is between 5 and 20% for the majority of the elements detected. It was determined that the figures of merit for this analysis did not vary significantly as the matrix changed.