A comparison of ion and atom behavior in the first stage of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer vacuum interface: Evidence of the effect of an ambipolar electric field

Velocities of argon atoms and calcium ions were measured in the first vacuum stage of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer using high-resolution laser-excited fluorescence spectroscopy. The calcium ions reached terminal velocities in the supersonic expansion that were consistently 5–6% hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Spectrochimica acta. Part B: Atomic spectroscopy 2009-09, Vol.64 (9), p.905-910
Main Authors: Farnsworth, Paul B., Spencer, Ross L., Radicic, W. Neil, Taylor, Nicholas, Macedone, Jeffrey, Ma, Haibin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambipolar diffusion
ICP-MS
Supersonic expansion
Vacuum interface
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Summary:Velocities of argon atoms and calcium ions were measured in the first vacuum stage of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer using high-resolution laser-excited fluorescence spectroscopy. The calcium ions reached terminal velocities in the supersonic expansion that were consistently 5–6% higher than those of argon atoms, despite minimal differences in the masses of the two species. A computational model of the expansion was developed that shows the development of an ambipolar electric field along the expansion axis. With reasonable assumptions about electron temperatures in the expansion, the model accounts for the differences between the terminal velocities of the neutral argon atoms and the singly-charged calcium ions.
ISSN:0584-8547
1873-3565
DOI:10.1016/j.sab.2009.07.020