TABLE OF CONTENTS John W. Olesik and Deanna Jones
Laboratory for Plasma Spectrochemistry, Laser Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry, Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Spectral overlaps have been recognized as one of the main limitations of ICP-MS since its initial development.1 Every element except iodine has at least one isotope that does not occur at the same nominal mass as an isotope of another element. However, molecular ions are the main source of spectral overlaps in ICP-MS. 2 6 Two different approaches to overcome spectral overlaps in ICP-MS based on selective chemical reactions using a pressurized reaction cell7 or mass spectral resolution8 will be discussed here.
Ions from the plasma gas (such as Ar +, Ar 2 +), plasma gas and entrained air (such as ArN +), plasma gas and aqueous solvent (ArO +, ArH +, ArOH +, O 2 +) and plasma gas and organic species (ArC +) can result in spectral overlaps with 40Ca +, 80Se +, 54Fe +, 56Fe +, 41K +,
