M. Carre et al., A STUDY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN THE LIMIT OF DETECTION AND THE LIMIT OF QUANTITATION IN INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA SPECTROCHEMISTRY, Spectrochimica acta, Part B: Atomic spectroscopy, 52(14), 1997, pp. 2043-2049
The limit of quantitation based on a repeatability threshold concept i
s compared with the limit of detection in induction coupled plasma ato
mic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and induction coupled plasma mass
spectrometry (ICP-MS). A 5%-based limit of quantitation would normally
correspond to 10 times the 3-sigma based limit of detection. However,
because of a possible lack of linearity of the calibration graph at l
ow concentrations, some additional noise not taken into consideration
and the possible use of time-correlated multichannel detection, this r
atio of 10 cannot be used in every case. It is suggested that a suitab
le way of determining the limit of quantitation is to establish the pl
ot of the percentage relative standard deviation (RSD) of the net sign
al as a function of the concentration in a range from the limit of det
ection to 50 times this limit. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.