EVALUATION OF OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS AFFECTING SEMIQUANTITATIVE MULTIELEMENTAL ANALYSIS BY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

A systematic study was carried out on the effect of ICP-MS operational parameters, such as dwell time, sweeps per reading, readings per repl icate and number of replicates, on the precision and accuracy of resul ts obtained in the semiquantitative mode by using Rh as internal stand ard and Ge, In and Ri for internal calibration of the instrument. In o rder to improve the quantitative analysis of major elements, such as N a, Mg, K and Ca, the detector attenuation (OmniRange parameter) must b e recalibrated by using a multi-standard solution of these elements, U nder these conditions, accurate results were obtained with a total mea surement time of 103 s per sample, covering the whole mass range from 6 to 238 mu. The applicability of the methodology developed was confir med by the analysis of a drinking water certified reference material.