Tw. Burgoyne et al., DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF A PLASMA-SOURCE MASS SPECTROGRAPH, Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 8(4), 1997, pp. 307-318
A plasma-source, simultaneously detecting, Mattauch-Herzog mass spectr
ograph for multielement analysis was developed. Simultaneous detection
should improve throughput, precision, and sensitivity over those inst
ruments that use quadrupole or sector mass spectrometers. The new inst
rument is compact (approximately 80 cm in length) and is designed to d
etect a complete atomic mass spectrum in two mass windows that straddl
e but avoid argon. The design and some figures of merit are presented.
With a dc glow discharge source, a precision of 0.5% determined from
eight consecutive 10-s images was obtained for Cu isotope ratios in Na
val Brass B. With the same sample, nickel and lead were detected at li
mits of 8 and 1 ppm. Measured Mg isotope ratios with an inductively co
upled plasma source were within 4% of the expected values. The resolut
ion at full width at half maximum is currently limited to approximatel
y 60, in part because of poor peak shape. The origin of this peak shap
e has been determined to lie within the array detector and possibly re
sults from its interaction with the fringing magnetic fields produced
by the second sector. (C) 1997 American Society for Mass Spectrometry.