Improving ion transmission in ICPMS

Full text: The differential pumping interface between the atmospheric pressure inductively coupled plasma and the mass spectrometer constitutes the greatest limitation for analyte sensitivity of ICPMS. Basically, all instruments available today operate on the basis of the initial design developed by Houk and Fassel almost 30 years ago. Although this is a clear indication of the landmark set in instrument development at that time, the question remains whether further development could improve the performance of future instrumentation. Alternative strategies, for example exchanging extraction optics by an ion funnel, may improve performance in this respect and will be discussed in this presentation. (author)