Ed McCurdy

Manufacturing advanced electronic devices requires the production of high-quality semiconductors and integrated circuit chips. In this article, the authors explain how GC, when coupled with ICP-MS, enables the detection of elements that are essential in semiconductor production.

The ICP–MS mass spectrum contains useful additional information, but how to obtain that information is the question. Here, we provide the answer.

ICP-MS is increasingly being used to analyze complex matrices, but an ICP-MS instrument optimized for the highest sensitivity may not have the sufficient matrix tolerance to analyze high-salt samples. We describe a method to optimize plasma robustness and interference control for accurate, routine analysis of critical trace elements in undiluted seawater.

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instruments can perform low-level elemental analysis in a wide range of sample types, from high-purity chemicals to high matrix digests. But achieving consistently low detection limits requires good control of elemental contamination, as well as spectral interferences. A clean working area, careful selection of reagents, and good sample handling techniques are key to successful trace and ultratrace elemental analysis. In this article, we provide five practical tips for controlling contaminants and minimizing detection limits.

Method development for ICP-MS/MS should not be difficult. The six steps here will guide you to success.

Combined with appropriate selection of instrument components to reduce the sulfur background, ICP-MS using MS/MS with oxygen reaction cell gas can provide accurate low-level analysis of sulfur and sulfur isotope ratios in aqueous and organic matrices. This is useful in applications in life science, clinical research, pharmaceutical development, food safety, environmental monitoring, geochemistry, and petrochemistry.

When using a triple-quadrupole ICP-MS system, the increased abundance sensitivity of MS/MS mode makes it possible to measure trace elements using isotopes that would otherwise be affected by peak tailing from an adjacent major element. This approach is illustrated using the example of ultratrace 237Np analysis in the presence of 10 ppm U.

This table is supplementary information to the article "Accurate Measurement of Ultrafine Silica Nanoparticles Using ICP-MS/MS," which was published in the September 2017 supplement issue "Applications of ICP & ICP-MS Techniques for Today’s Spectroscopists" to Spectroscopy.