Analysis of lead-tin solder by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy

Forensic Discrimination of Lead-Tin Solder Based on the Trace Impurity Analysis by ICP-AES

“…The sample preparation and ICP-AES measurement were repeated 5 times independently. The certified values for Cu, Ag and Bi are referred from a paper by Cargo et al, 10 together with the error of each element, whereas only the certified values included on the SRM sheet are available for As and Sb. The observed values for 5 elements show good agreement with the certified values, which demonstrates that the concentrations of trace impurities with sufficient accuracy can be obtained by this method.…”

“…A capability for simultaneous multi-elemental analysis is required to analyze various kinds of elements contained in solders as impurities, since the obtained information should be given to criminal investigators as quickly as possible. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) is one of the ideal instruments used to satisfy all of these requirements, and has been applied to the analysis of solder by Cargo, 10 Wynn, 11 Guecheva 12 and Yamamoto. 13 However, these methods were developed especially for the quality control of solders as industrial product, and thus should not be utilized in the examination of solders as trace physical evidence, because of the large amount of sample consumed for the analysis.…”