Computerized Trace Impurity Measurement in Spark-Source Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

An original computer program is applied to handle spark-source mass-spectrometry data. Computerized “Celidometry” (trace impurity measurement) increases the speed of data handling and also leaves complete freedom in interpretation of results. This article briefly describes the method utilized to obtain trace impurity concentrations by spark-source mass spectrometry and discusses in detail the computer program used to perform some of the operations. The computer program is written in DOS FORTRAN IV (E LEVEL SUBSET) supplied by IBM for System 360. The main program requires a card reader, a printer, and a 65K byte central processor. In addition, two magnetic tape drivers are used to provide off-line plotting of the calibration curve.