Excitation Temperature and Electron Number Density Measured for End-On-View Indectively Coupled Plasma Discharge

and Young Jo KimThe Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Mokpo National University,61, Dolim-Ri, Chungkye-myon, Muan-gun, Chonnam 534-729, KoreaReceived April 16, 2001The excitation temperature and electron number density have been measured for end-on-view ICP discharge.In this work, end-on-view ICP-AES equipped with the newly developed “optical plasma interface (OPI)” wasused to eliminate or remove the negative effects caused by end-on-plasma source. The axial excitationtemperature was measured using analyte (Fe I) emission line data obtained with end-on-view ICP-AES. Theaxial electron number density was calculated by Saha-Eggert ionization equilibrium theory. In the presentstudy, the effects of forward power, nebulizer gas flow rate and the presence of Na on the excitationtemperature and electron number density have been investigated. For sample introduction, two kinds ofnebulizers (pneumatic and ultrasonic nebulizer) were utilized.Keywords : Excitation temperature, Electron number density, ICP, end-on-view.IntroductionICP-AES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic EmissionSpectrometry) has been widely used for the determination oftrace elements in various samples due to its high detectionpower, multi-elemental analysis, minor matrix and memoryeffect, high analysis speed and a tolerance to high saltconcentration.