The determination of germanium by atomic absorption spectrometry with a graphite tube atomizer

A carbon filament atom reservoir and a graphite tube atomizer are compared as methods for the determination of germanium by atomic absorption spectrometry. It is shown that the filament technique is not applicable, probably because of loss of the sample as a volatile oxide species which results in inefficient atomization. The design of a small graphite tube atomizer is described; with this, a limit of detection for germanium of 3·10^-10 g was found. For a 20-μl sample, this corresponds to a concentration of 0.015 p.p.m. The interfering effect of 13 anions and cations is studied.