Peak bordering for ultrafast single particle analysis using ICP-MS

Living in a transient world: ICP-MS reinvented via time-resolved analysis for monitoring single events

“…However, if the dwell time is much lower than the duration of the single pulse, then the signal recorded for such pulse will be distributed over consecutive acquisition intervals and thus, the signal intensity over one dwell time will decrease significantly, further complicating the detection of NP events. 63 As a compromise, a value of 50–100 μs is often preferred. The difference is that, under such conditions, every individual signal is now described by a set of data points instead of only one.…”

Bayesian estimation to deconvolute single-particle ICP-MS data with a mixed Poisson distribution

“…7 They analysed Au-NPs with 60 nm diameters using DTs ranging from 10 ms to 10 ms, and they discussed the effects of varying the DT on particle integration, particle counting, particle sizing, and the background signal. Miyashita et al 8 assembled their own home-built data acquisition unit, which was capable of communicating with a manufactured ICP-MS, and they applied the unit to single-cell analysis at a DT of 50 ms or 100 ms. Several attempts have subsequently been made to improve the time resolution in spICP-MS. 4,9,10 A new generation of ICP-MS spectrometers was released around 2011, allowing the minimum DT to be decreased to as low as 10 ms. 11 Use of shorter DTs, as well as diluting the particle number concentration, also reduces overlapping of particle events and thus leads to valid estimation of particle number concentrations. However, using shorter DTs increases the possibility that a particle event does not completely coincide with a DT and thus broadens the particle signal distribution and lowers signal intensities.…”

“…However, using shorter DTs increases the possibility that a particle event does not completely coincide with a DT and thus broadens the particle signal distribution and lowers signal intensities. 11,12 Applying advanced statistical methods could be another solution. Researchers typically distinguish NP signals from background signals by using three times the standard deviation (s) of the background signals as a criterion, 2 although different threshold values, such as the mean plus 5s, have been applied in some cases.…”

“…Several attempts have subsequently been made to improve the time resolution in spICP-MS. 4,9,10 A new generation of ICP-MS spectrometers was released around 2011, allowing the minimum DT to be decreased to as low as 10 μs. 11 Use of shorter DTs, as well as diluting the particle number concentration, also reduces overlapping of particle events and thus leads to valid estimation of particle number concentrations. However, using shorter DTs increases the possibility that a particle event does not completely coincide with a DT and thus broadens the particle signal distribution and lowers signal intensities.…”

An approach to estimate the contribution of signal noise to the diameter uncertainty of individual silver nanoparticles and resolution of spICP-MS analysis

“…Quadrupole ICP-MS instruments, which operate with dwell times exceeding the duration of the ion cloud generated by one nanoparticle (t d $ milliseconds), allow only the detection of an integrated pulse per NP event, while new generations of commercial fast-scanning instruments (t d $ ms) offer the capability to record the transient signal. 6,7,9,10 Several advantages could be pointed out when working in the microsecond t d range, 6,[10][11][12] but at the same time, a high time-signal resolution results in some difficulties, 13 which may lead to the underestimation of the particle size or loss of information.…”