Once the ions enter the mass spectrometer, they are separated by their mass-to-charge ratio. The most commonly used type of mass spectrometer is the quadrupole mass filter. In this type, 4 rods (approximately 1 cm in diameter and 15-20 cm long) are arranged as in Figure 3. In a quadrupole mass filter, alternating AC and DC voltages are applied to opposite pairs of the rods. These voltages are then rapidly switched along with an RF-field. The result is that an electrostatic filter is established that only allows
ions of a single mass-to-charge ratio (m/e) pass through the rods to the
detector at a given instant in time. So, the quadrupole mass filter is really a sequential filter, with the settings being change for each specific m/e at a time. However, the voltages on the rods can be switched at a very rapid rate. The result is that the quadrupole mass filter can separate up to 2400 amu (atomic mass units) per second! This speed is why the quadrupole ICP-MS is often considered to have simultaneous multi-elemental analysis properties. The ability to filter ions on their mass-to-charge ratio allows ICP-MS to supply isotopic information, since different isotopes of the same element have different masses (see Figure 4).
Figure 3. Schematic of quadrupole mass filter.
(Figure reproduced with permission from PerkinElmer, Inc.)
Figure 4. Spectrum showing copper isotopes by