ICP Plasma
Definition
Inductively coupled argon plasma at 6,000 to 10,000 K that atomises and ionises samples in ICP-MS, generating singly charged elemental ions for the quadrupole.
- Full name
- Inductively coupled plasma
- Gas
- Argon
- Temperature range
- 6,000 to 10,000 K
- Function
- Atomises and ionises sample for MS analysis
Common questions
Why does ICP-MS need such an extremely hot plasma source?+
The high temperature breaks even refractory compounds down into free atoms and strips an electron from each to form singly charged ions, which is necessary because the mass analyzer downstream can only sort and count charged particles.
What happens if the plasma ionises an atom more than once?+
Doubly charged ions appear at half their true mass-to-charge ratio and can be mistaken for a different, lighter element, so instrument tuning aims to keep double ionisation low and analysts watch for known interference patterns.
Related terms
- Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionisation (APCI)
- A complementary atmospheric-pressure source that vaporises the LC eluent and uses a corona discharge to ionise a reagent gas, which transfers charge...
- Electrospray Ionisation (ESI)
- A soft atmospheric-pressure ionisation source that sprays the LC eluent through a charged capillary into a heated counter-current gas, producing protonated or...
- Hyphenation
- Online coupling of a separation technique (GC, LC, ICP) with a spectrometric detector (MS, FTIR) so identification happens within the same run....
- Interface
- The hardware bridge that transfers analyte from the separation stage to the detector while removing the unwanted mobile phase (carrier gas, solvent,...
- Internal Standard / Deuterated Standard
- A chemically similar (often perdeuterated) compound spiked into the sample to correct for matrix effects and ionisation suppression. Standard practice in forensic...
- Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)
- Specialised MS that measures precise ratios of light stable isotopes (delta values of 2H, 13C, 15N, 18O, 34S) on a continuous-flow combustion...
- Jet Separator
- Early GC-MS interface (Ryhage, 1964) that used differential pumping through a nozzle to enrich analyte and bleed helium. Replaced by direct capillary...