Generalized standard addition method for multicomponent instrument characterization and elimination of interferences in inductively coupled plasma spectrometry

Various types of interferences are known to exist when using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectrometry. They have been classified as stray light, direct spectral overlap, overlap of severely broadened lines of high intensity, and continuum emission from ion-electron recombination. The presence of these interferences often requires alternate (less sensitive) wavelength selection. The generalized standard addition method (GSAM) is a method of multicomponent analysis which provides a means of detecting the interference effects, quantifying the magnitude of the interferences, allowing the use of the most sensitive wavelengths for all analytes, and simultaneously determining analyte concentrations. In addition, the GSAM can be used to completely characterize all analytical wavelengths of a particular ICP instrument. This procedure is quite general and can be applied to most multicomponent methods of analysis