iCAP Customer Familiarisation Manual
Page 4 of 72
This document is part numbered 849940090071
Version 1.02
2 Instrument Overview
2.1 General
The iCAP 7000 Series is a range of Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Optical Emission
Spectrometers (ICP-OES) which use an Echelle optical design and a Charge Injection Device
(CID) solid-state detector to measure trace elemental concentrations in a wide range of samples.
Liquid samples are pumped through a nebuliser to produce a fine spray. Large droplets are
removed by a spray chamber, small droplets then pass through the center tube in the torch to the
plasma. Solvent is evaporated and the residual sample decomposes to atoms and ions that are
excited by the electrical Radio Frequency (RF) generated Plasma to 9000K that will emit a unique
set of wavelengths of light for each element as they decay to a lower energy state. The intensity
of this light is measured and this corresponds to the concentration of element type in the original
sample.
The iCAP 7000 spectrometer consists of several major components:
•
Plasma torch and sample introduction parts
•
Radio frequency power generator
•
Echelle polychromator optical system
•
CID detector
•
Data station
2.2 Optical system and light path
