Access to isotopic and elemental composition and their distribution in solid materials by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry is becoming a p owerful analytical technique for in situ trace element determination and is otope ratio determination in solids. A number of fundamental studies using a 193 nm ArF excimer and a 266 nm Nd: YAG laser ablation system were carried out to study the wavelength-dependen t ablation behaviour of different materials, New optical arrangements used for the laser beam delivery onto the sample surface and increased fluency a t 266 nm show tremendously improved ablation characteristics of this wavele ngth, especially for highly transparent samples. The investigations indicat e that sample removal is wavelength- and material-dependent. Fast signal acquisition using a new generation ICP-MS with 'Time-Of-Flight' mass analyser, permits more information to be obtained per sample run in r espect to traditional scanning instrumentation. Especially when dealing wit h samples of small amount and large isotope menus, the capabilities of an I CP-TOFMS result in greatly improved time resolution. The complex matrix introduction in laser ablation leads to a number of inte rferences, which were studied using the recently introduced dynamic reactio n cell technology in ICP-MS. Gas reactions using hydrogen allow argides to be removed, while maintaining the multi-element capabilities of ICP-MS. A c omparison of standard mode and DRC indicates excellent agreement between bo th modes of operation and demonstrates the potential of this technique for trace element analysis.