The L-Pad solid state detector in the Teledyne Leeman Labs' Prodigy ICP spectrometer from Lambda Advanced Technology features a charge induction device (CID) with an integral Pentium processor
A combination of the size of the detector and the way information is read from it significantly improves measurement precision.
The CID detector is much better suited to spectroscopy applications than the better-known CCD array.
In the CID detector, each individual pixel can be read individually at any time during an exposure, whereas CCD readout requires reading on a row by row basis when the exposure is finished.
The L-Pad detector is four times the area of conventional detectors, and ensures complete wavelength coverage with a single exposure, without compromising resolution or dispersion.
As the entire spectrum is recorded in a single exposure and pixels are read individually, an internal standard may be used in the sample to allow elimination of coincident noise in the sample and standard.
This is not possible in detectors that require more than one exposure to record the whole spectrum.
Individual pixel readout also has significant benefits when adjacent pixels may have hugely different amounts of charge corresponding to spectral peaks of greatly different intensity by avoiding the problem of spillover of charge from one pixel to another.
This is particularly important in the higher wavelength regions of the spectrum and means that very low peak intensities can be measured even in the presence of large peaks, leading to improved detection of low concentration elements.
