INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA MASS SPECTROMETER AND MASS SPECTROMETRY METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometer and a mass spectrometry method which can perform mass spectrometry with a high degree of precision by preventing the atmosphere from flowing into a plasma.;SOLUTION: An ICP mass spectrometer 3 comprises: a plasma torch 21 which ionizes a sample 9 to generate a plasma P; and a mass spectrometry section 24 which has an ion introduction part 23 located near the top of the plasma torch 21; where a casing 36 for purging a gas is set to surround a plasma generating area between the plasma torch 21 and the ion introduction part 23 of the mass spectrometry section 24. The casing 36 for purging a gas forms a space 37 in isolation from outside air and capable of purging gases, where the space 37 is purged by a gas having different mass number from a measured object element of the sample 9. This keeps the atmosphere out of the casing 36 and prevents the atmosphere from flowing into the plasma P. Therefore, since the plasma P becomes free from the influence of the atmosphere, the mass spectrometry is performed with high sensitivity.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI