Abstract
Solution aerosols are introduced into an atmospheric pressure inert gas plasma where elemental constituents are ionized. An ion sampling interface extracts gas from the plasma into a vacuum system where the ions are mass analyzed and detected. The feasibility of this analytical concept for trace elemental and isotopic analysis was first demonstrated using a capillary arc plasma. Recent work is described which was performed with an inductively coupled plasma. The relative standard deviations obtained for determination of relative abundances of Cu and Rb isotopes are approximately ±1 percent. Samples are directly introduced into the plasma ionization source and can be changed in approximately two minutes by simple procedures performed completely outside the vacuum system. Dissolution and nebulization are the only sample preparation procedures required. Ions from most of the elements studied are obtained under the same operating parameters. Continued improvements in ion extraction techniques are expected to make plasma ion sources valuable for rapid mass spectrometric analysis of solutions.
