Project Vienna: A Novel Precell Mass Filter for Collision/Reaction Cell MC-ICPMS/MS

The last decade has seen widespread adoption of triple quadrupole-based inductively coupled plasma–tandem mass spectrometry (ICPMS/MS) technique using a collision/reaction cell in combination with a precell bandpass mass analyzer to measure isotopes otherwise masked by spectral interferences. High-precision isotope ratio analysis containing such isotopes would benefit from a similar capability on a multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) platform, but using a quadrupole-based precell mass analyzer for MC-ICPMS/MS has several limitations. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel precell mass analyzer for MC-ICPMS/MS using sector field technology. The new precell mass analyzer, comprising two Wien filters and a selection aperture, and a hexapole collision/reaction cell were integrated together in a single module and added to the commercially available Thermo Scientific Neptune XT MC-ICPMS to create a prototype MC-ICPMS/MS we named Vienna. Vienna was proven to retain the same performance of the base MC-ICPMS in terms of sensitivity, accuracy, and precision. Using the Vienna mass filter to eliminate Ar-based species, the abundance sensitivity achievable was equivalent to TIMS at mass 237.05, which was used to accurately determine the low 236U/238U isotope ratio of the uranium reference material IRMM184 (certified value, 1.2446 × 10–7). The performance of Vienna was then tested for a variety of geoscience applications that were expected to benefit from MC-ICPMS/MS technique, including Ca, K, Si, and in situ Rb/Sr dating by laser ablation.