Analyte transport efficiencies in electrothermal vaporization for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A modified graphite furnace for solid-sampling atomic absorption spectrometry as an electrothermal vaporizer (ETV) was coupled to a Perkin–Elmer/Sciex ELAN 6000 ICP mass spectrometer. The integrals obtained from electrothermal vaporization of aliquots containing As, Cd, Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, Pb, Se, and Zn were compared with those obtained from pneumatic nebulization of the same aqueous standard solution. The pneumatic nebulizer was calibrated by weighing the mass of aqueous aerosol trapped on a filter. With “wet plasma” conditions maintained also for measurements with the ETV and reference signals for analyte signals obtained with the calibrated pneumatic nebulization, the transport efficiency of the ETV system, e.g. the ratio of the analyte amount introduced into the plasma to that amount dosed into the vaporizer, was determined.