Study of solids deposition on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry samplers and skimmers

Abstract

The change in pressure in the interface and ion optics regions of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) system provides a convenient and simple method for studying the salt deposition process. The preliminary results reported here show a variety of complex behaviours. In many instances, a simple exponential decay of pressure (area) with time matched the data but in others more complex behaviour was seen. In general, deposition is minimised by low aerosol flow-rates and high power, but at the expense of analyte signal. With some matrices, the results shown here and also those reported by other workers show that a steady state may be reached at which deposition during analysis and desorption for a blank run may be balanced to give a pseudo-steady state with minimum instrumental drift.