Recent Interfaces Between Mass Spectrometry and Art

Abstract

CHEMISTS have long been aware of the limitations imposed on their studies by the limits of sensitivity of many of those currently available analytical methods which permit a number of elements to be determined in one sample, e. g. optical emission spectrographic techniques, x-ray fluorescence analysis. This has led to the adoption of more sensitive methods for a restricted number of elements, e. g. neutron activation analysis. More recently, spark source mass spectrometry has provided the analytical chemist with the ability to cover the full range of elements in any sample in a single determination and the ability to detect those elements down to very low concentrations, i. e. parts in 10⁹. The advent of this technique was the product of semi-conductor technology where 10 parts per billion (ppb) of copper in germanium or 2 ppb of gold in silicon is reflected in the electrical properties of those semi-conductors.