GGR Handbook of Rock and Mineral Analysis Chapter 7 Quadrupole Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

This chapter (Quadrupole Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry) is a contribution to the Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Handbook of Rock and Mineral Analysis – an online textbook that is a fully revised and updated edition of Handbook of the Silicate Rock Analysis (P. J. Potts, 1987, Blackie, Glasgow).

Chapter 7 (from Section 2 of the handbook dealing with techniques for the determination of major and trace elements) describes both the history of ICP-MS, including development of the plasma sampling interface and the operation of modern ICP-MS instrumentation. Given their central importance to ICP-MS operation, ion extraction through the sampling interface, ion transmission, ion separation (with a particular focus on the quadrupole mass filter) and counting are given particular attention. Discussion of the analytical characteristics of ICP-MS particularly focusses on spectroscopic interferences (and their mitigation). Finally, an overview of geochemical analysis by ICP-MS considers drift correction, calibration strategies, and laser ablation microsampling.