EVALUATION OF THE DETECTION CAPABILITY OF A HIGH-POWER NITROGEN MICROWAVE-INDUCED PLASMA FOR BOTH ATOMIC-EMISSION AND MASS-SPECTROMETRY

In order to evaluate the detection capability of a high power N-2-MIP (surface wave mode cavity) for AES and RIS, a comparison of the detect ion limits between high power N-2-MIP-AES and Ar-ICP-AES was conducted under almost the same plasma operating conditions and with the same m easurement systems, Moreover, a comparison of the detection limits bet ween high power N-2-MIP-MS and Ar-ICP-MS was also carried out under op timum operating conditions for each instrument. The detection limits ( 3 sigma) were established as the detection capability for both plasma systems using a total of 55 wavelengths (atom and ion lines) for 21 el ements for AES and a total of 38 m/z values for 22 elements for MS. Th e detection limits obtained for N-2-MIP-AES (0.4-3000 ng ml(-1)) were from one to two orders of magnitude worse than those for Ar-ICP-AES, O n the other hand, the detection limits for N-2-MIP-MS (1-3600 pg ml(-1 )) were almost the same or one order of magnitude worse than those for Ar-ICP-MS, The detection capability of a high power N-2-MIP was evalu ated both from results in this work and from those given previously.