SBIR Phase I: A Novel Microwave Based Plasma System for Analytical Atomic Spectrometry

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will generate crucial analytical spectroscopy data and analytical instrument optimization required for the successful commercialization of an innovative microwave-induced plasma (MIP) technology for atomic spectroscopy analysis. This technology promises to have a significant impact on trace elemental analysis by providing a low-cost, portable, widely-applicable alternative to the current standard inductively coupled plasma (ICP). With portable technology now approaching 30% market share, the $4 billion global atomic spectroscopy market is poised to undergo a major change. The proposed MIP innovation will continue to drive the growth of this market by providing the first portable solution with analytical performance approaching that of a tabletop unit. The new level of flexibility will allow trace elemental analysis in applications and locations where it would not have been previously considered. The societal impact of this differentiating technology empowers end users, rather than large laboratories, with a means to quantify their environmental footprint through the analytical measurement and in-situ monitoring of low level of metals in samples. The ongoing introduction of new and stricter environmental and safety regulations in most developed and developing nations will ensure that this market need will only grow over time. The intellectual merit of this project derives from an innovative, multidisciplinary, and collaborative approach to a long standing technical challenge of creating a purely inductive plasma at microwave frequencies. Materials science, electromagnetic fields, plasma physics, and analytical chemistry all play an important role in the proposed solution where a copper coil is replaced by a ring made of advanced technical ceramic. The ceramic material, an almost perfect insulator at low frequencies, is a nearly ideal medium for microwave dielectric polarization currents. These currents generate a pure inductive field in MIP, leading to an ICP-like plasma at microwave frequencies, where lower losses, cost, size, and power requirements make the portability possible. The resulting toroidal plasma exhibits robustness to sample loading and analytical zones directly comparable to standard ICP. The proposed project includes the development, characterization, and optimization of the new MIP in a collaboration between a small business and a renowned academic institution. The research is expected to generate reliable MIP performance metrics for trace elemental analysis and to assess the susceptibility of MIP to interferences or matrix effects in order to validate the proposed commercial positioning for a portable MIP optical emission spectrometer product.