A New Laser Ablation System for Quantitative Analysis of Solid Samples with ICP-MS

• Published in: Analytical Sciences Vol. 24; no. 5; pp. 563 - 569
• Main Authors: ISHIDA, Tomoharu, AKIYOSHI, Takanori, SAKASHITA, Akiko, KINOSHIRO, Satoshi, FUJIMOTO, Kyoko, CHINO, Atsushi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry 01.05.2008; Springer Nature Singapore; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: 2006; Analytical Chemistry; Chemistry; The Best Paper in Bunseki Kagaku
• ISSN: 0910-6340; 1348-2246
• DOI: 10.2116/analsci.24.563

The laser ablation (LA) method is an effective technique for quantitative analysis. In the present work, a new LA system was developed for the high-sensitivity analysis of metal materials using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This system consists of a high-frequency Q-switched laser and 2 scanning mirrors for scanning the ablation spot in an adequately large area of the specimen without vacant spaces. The influence of elemental fractionation (non-stoichiometric generation of vapor species) can be eliminated by repetitive irradiation of this pattern on the same area. Particles generated with an average laser power of 0.6 W with the developed LA system gave intensity and stability substantially similar to that of a 500 µg/ml solution steel sample in solution ICP-MS. The analytical performance of the developed LA-ICP-MS was compared with that of a solution ICP-MS using NIST steel SRMs. The performance of the newly-developed system is comparable to that of conventional solution ICP-MS in both accuracy and precision. The correlation coefficients between the contents and the intensity ratios to Fe were over 0.99 for most elements. The relative standard deviation (RSD) obtained by LA-ICP-MS revealed that this system can analyze iron samples with good precision. The results of ultra trace level analysis of high-purity iron showed that developed LA-ICP-MS is capable of analyzing ppm concentration levels with a 20 - 30 ppb level standard deviation. The detection limit was on the order of 10 ppb for most elements.