Inorganic mass spectrometric methods for trace, ultratrace, isotope, and surface analysis

Abstract

Inorganic mass spectrometric methods are widely used for multielemental determination at the trace and ultratrace level for isotope ratio measurements and surface analysis (depth profiling, imaging) in quite different materials (e.g. conducting, semiconducting, and nonconducting solid samples; technical, environmental, biological, geological, and water samples). The capability of spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS), laser ionization mass spectrometry (LIMS), glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), sputtered neutral mass spectrometry (SNMS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) have been applied as the most important mass spectrometric techniques with their multielemental capability for the characterization of solid and aqueous samples. The detection limits for the direct analysis of solid samples by inorganic solid mass spectrometry were determined up to sub-ng g −1 and for aqueous solutions by ICP-MS up to sub-pg L −1. This article discusses the most important inorganic mass spectrometric techniques and their application for quantitative determination of trace element, isotope ratio measurements, and in-surface analysis.