COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF ARGON AND HELIUM PLASMAS IN A TM(010) CAVITY AND A SURFATRON AND THEIR USE FOR HYDRIDE GENERATION MICROWAVE-INDUCED PLASMA ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRY

Argon and helium microwave-induced plasmas (MIPs) operated in a TM010 Beenakker resonator and in a surfatron were investigated for the determination of hydride-forming elements. The MIPs in both devices were optimized with elemental mercury vapour. The analytical figures of merit were determined for As, Sb and Se in the case of hydride generation followed by trapping in a hot graphite furnace and subsequent evaporization of the analyte into the plasma. The long-term stability of the plasmas obtained in both devices was found to be very good. With the surfatron the absolute detection limits for the determination of As, Sb and Se (0.1-0.2 ng) were half those with the TM010 cavity.