4. Interference

4.1 Interference description

Like all analytical techniques, ICP-MS is not immune to a certain number of interferences, which are one of the limits to its analytical performance.

Two types of interference can be identified:

• non-spectral interference due to matrix effects, which cause the signal to decrease or increase to varying degrees;

• spectral interference, where the signal from the mass under analysis is overlapped by the signal from another isotope or molecular ion with a mass-to-charge ratio that is too close.

• Non-spectral interferences are not characteristic of ICP-MS, as many are also observed in ICP-OES and even...