INSTRUMENTATION FOR SIMULTANEOUS MULTIELEMENT ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY WITH GRAPHITE-FURNACE ATOMIZATION

Graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) is restricted to the determination of 4 to 6 elements simultaneously due to the lim itations of hollow cathode lamps. However, a consideration of prototyp e continuum source instruments and recent advances in the fields of sp ectrometer and detector technology suggests that a multielement GF-AAS instrument, with the multielement versatility associated with atomic emission spectrometry, is possible. Such a multielement instrument wou ld employ a continuum source and provide 1.) multielement determinatio ns for 30 to 40 elements, 2.) wavelength and time integrated absorbanc e measurements which are independent of the source width, 3.) detectio n limits comparable to line source AAS with the potential for another order of magnitude improvement using atomization at elevated pressures , 4.) extended calibration ranges limited only by the memory of the at omizer, and 5.) high resolution inspection of the spectra surrounding the analytical wavelength. Such an instrument could provide figures of merit comparable to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer with considerably less complexity.