The effect of data acquisition parameters and the characteristics of transi
ent signals on limits of detection, accuracy and precision has been studied
. From the point of view of peak detectability, long dwell times should be
used to reduce baseline noise but the data acquisition frequency will be lo
w. In order to get enough number of data points per peak, the width of the
peak has been controlled by parameters affecting peak dispersion (injection
volume, flow rate, connecting tubes). Due to the multielement nature of in
ductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, the influence of the number of
isotopes measured has also been considered. Proper quantification by means
of the integration of transient signals has been achieved by acquiring a sm
all number of points per peak (less than 10) and results have been comparab
le to those obtained with more data points (tens or hundreds). In practice,
71 elements have been determined by measuring 211 isotopes in transient si
gnals obtained by injecting 560 mu l at 1.2 mlmin(-1), with dwell times of
100 ms (three data points per peak). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig
hts reserved.