Properties and characteristics of a laser ablation ICP-MS system for the quantitative elemental analysis of glasses

The design and the properties of a laser dedicated to the micro sampling of solids described and discussed. The high laser beam quality in conjunction with short laser pulses of few nanosecond length allows ablation of material from solids like silicon wafers with ablation craters down to 6-mm diameter. When the laser is interfaced to an ICP mass spectrometer, the signal stability and limits of detection on trace elements in glass samples is improved as the laser pulse width decreases. Isotope ratio measurements with external reproducibilities better than 3‰ can be achieved. The detection limits are in the ppt range for elements such as Ag, La, Eu, Tl, and Th. q1998 Elsevier Science B.V.