Application of electrothermal vaporization using a tungsten filament to axially-viewed ICP-AES for the analysis of micro-liter samples

In the present study, electrothermal vaporization (ETV) with a tungsten filament was applied to axially-viewed ICP-AES for the effective introduction of small amounts of samples into the plasma. Several tungsten filaments with different diameters were examined, and consequently, the filament of 0.3 mm dia. was suitable for the present work in durability and reproducibility. The possibility of the simultaneous multi-element determination with a 5-μl volume of sample solutions was found by optimizing measurement conditions such as charging voltage for a capacitor and electric current for the dry of sample solution on the filament. Although the detection limits of some elements were almost similar to those reported for conventional ETV/ICP-AES, further improvement in reproducibility is required. (author)