The "super stars" of analytical spectrometry, ETA-AAS, ICP-AES, and ICP-MS, are compared to the other atomic spectrometric methods. LIBS will be emphasized with regard to its figures of merit with regard to its disadvantages and advantages.

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Several factors influence the precision of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measurements. This paper reports on the effect of emission signal temporal development, sample translational velocity, number of spectra accumulated, laser pulse stability, detector gate delay, surface roughness, and use of background correction on LIBS precision. The results are presented in two formats: within measurement/shot-to-shot precision (intra-measurement) and between measurement precision (inter-measurement). The data indicate that intra- and inter-measurement precision are optimized under different conditions. The best precision obtained was 0.03%.

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A commercial, 7 microJ/pulse, 550 ps microchip laser is used to induce plasma on Pb, Si, Cu, Fe, Ni, Ti, Zn, Ta, and Mo foils and a Si wafer. The measured plasma lifetime is comparable with the duration of the laser pulse (a few ns). The plasma continuum radiation is low, while some of the strong resonance lines (e.g., Zn 213.86 nm) show self-reversal. Quantitative analysis is possible using non-gated detectors but analytical lines should be chosen with care to avoid reduction in the linear dynamic range. The mass removed (0.5-20 ng/pulse) is sufficient to yield spectra that are detectable with portable grating spectrometers equipped with non-gated, non-intensified detector arrays. The spectrum of Cd is detected with a broadband portable spectrometer (200-950 nm). The combination of the broadband spectrometer and the microchip laser is very promising for material identification, especially in field applications.

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