Atomic Spectrometry Update—Atomic Mass Spectrometry and X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

Abstract

The increase in the number of papers considered for the MS section of this year's Update is evidence for the continued strong development of atomic MS techniques. Most techniques receive considerable attention both in terms of fundamental studies and in an ever-broadening range of applications. Although a high proportion of the reports for the rapidly-growing plasma techniques are still often uninformative conference abstracts, it is pleasing to note that more and more are now appearing as full refereed papers. It is noted that the overlap between some techniques is increasing and consequently it is difficult to categorize some developments into rigidly defined groups.

In XRF, a welcome rise in the number of publications concerning the application of on-line and portable instruments is observed. The increasing availability of dedicated synchrotron radiation (SR) sources specifically designed for XRF measurements has contributed to a high level of activity in SRXRF. In particular, the development of SRXRF microprobes has generated strong growth in the increasingly important area of X-ray microfluorescence (XRMF). In contrast to the use of rather specialized and centralized SR sources for XRMF there is continuing growth of interest in XRMF using laboratory X-ray tube sources. Two main application areas of TXRF clearly emerge: analysis of samples deposited on silica carriers and surface analysis/depth profiling of semiconductor wafers. Much of the most recent TXRF work is in the latter category.