Identification of isobaric interferences. A computer program for ion microprobe mass spectral data

A computer program for generating all possible atom clusters interfering in mass spectrometer analyses is described. Program COMBIN constructs clusters of up to seven atoms and up to three electron charges which might interfere with a user-selected atomic mass. Based on a scan from mass 1 to 250 including the half masses, the upper limit of the intensity of each possible interference is investigated. Interferences whose intensity is calculated to be below a given limit are cancelled from the list of possible interferences. This reduced table of interfering clusters is the basis for identifying the peaks appearing in a high resolution scan of the mass region for the selected atomic species.