Why Flame AAS Users Are Moving Up to ICP-OES

This paper provides an in-depth comparison of these two long-established technologies used in a wide variety of elemental analysis applications. ICP-OES has traditionally come with a considerably higher price tag than AAS, thus many users have felt constrained to consider only AAS instruments. Recently however, price points have shifted as manufacturing efficiencies and other changes now offer the possibility of obtaining an ICP-OES instrument at not much more than the cost of an AAS device. So many users, previously locked into evaluating AAS technology alone, are now considering ICP-OES for their next instrument purchase. This paper explains the reasons why.