Determination of tellurium in indium antimonide by slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A method for the determination of tellurium dopant concentration in indium antimonide (InSb) by Zeeman effect electrothermal atomic absorption spectro metry using the slurry sampling technique was developed. The effects of che mical modifier type and mass on the absorbance-peak characteristics of tell urium in InSb slurried samples were studied. The atomization behavior of te llurium in InSb slurries could be greatly improved by the use of palladium nitrate as a chemical modifier. The detection limit of the optimized proced ure was 0.4 mu g g(-1). In the determination of tellurium at the concentrat ion level of 16 mu g g(-1), a relative standard deviation of 7% was obtaine d. Good agreement of the results obtained by the slurry sampling technique with those obtained by solution electrothermal atomic absorption spectromet ry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was found.