The study of the selection of emission lines and plasma operating conditions for efficient internal standardization in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

In inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry matrix effects and drift are usually caused by two major factors, namely changes in the energy transfer between the plasma and sample, and changes in the efficiency of sample aerosol formation and transport. Mathematical model was developed for the behavior of the emission lines as the function of the sample uptake rate and the forward power. This model was utilized to study efficiency of internal standardization in non-robust, semi-robust and robust operating conditions. It was shown that in non-robust conditions internal standardization is extremely difficult, whereas in semi-robust and robust conditions it can be used efficiently. These results are in good agreement with those obtained by other authors previously. It was also shown that in general case using only single correction coefficient ‘perfect’ correction is impossible using traditional internal standardization. Model developed can be used to quantitatively evaluate the efficiency of internal standardization to reduce matrix effects and drift.