Ž . Spectrochimica Acta Part B 56 2001 10111025 ´ An evaluation of a commercial Echelle spectrometer with intensified charge-coupled device detector for materials analysis by laser-induced plasma spectroscopy  Vincent Detalle, Rene Heon, Mohamad Sabsabi  , Louis St-Onge ´ ´ National Research Council of Canada, Industrial Materials Institute, 75 de Mortagne Bl  d., Boucher  ille, Quebec, ´ Canada J4B 6Y4 Received 13 November 2000; accepted 19 February 2001 Abstract ´ In this work we evaluate the performance of a commercial Echelle spectrometer coupled with an intensified Ž . Ž . charge-coupled device ICCD detector for the analysis of solid samples by laser-induced plasma spectroscopy LIPS in air at atmospheric pressure. We compare results obtained in aluminum alloy samples with this system and with a Ž . ‘conventional’ Czerny-Turner spectrometer coupled to an intensified photodiode array IPDA . We used both systems to generate calibration curves and to determine the detection limit of minor elements, such as Mg, Cu, Si, etc. Our results indicate that no significant differences in terms of analytical figures of merit exist between the ´ EchelleICCD system and a conventional Czerny-Turner spectrometer with IPDA. Moreover, measurements of plasma temperature and electron density using the two assemblies give, in general, very similar results. In the second ´ part of this work, we aim to present a critical view of the Echelle spectrometer for LIPS applications, by drawing up the balance sheet of the advantages and limitations of the apparatus. The limitations are either inherent to the dispersion method, or result from the dynamic range of the detector. Moreover, the minimum ICCD readout time ´ does not allow a fast data acquisition rate. On the other hand, the Echelle spectrometer allows complete elemental analysis in a single shot, as spectral lines of major, minor and trace constituents, as well as plasma parameters, are measured simultaneously. This enables a real-time identification of unknown matrices and an improvement in the analytical precision by selecting several lines for the same element.  2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. ´ Ž . Keywords: Laser-induced plasma spectroscopy; Echelle spectrometer; Intensified charge-coupled device ICCD detection; Plasma characterization; Aluminum alloy  This paper was presented at the 1st International Congress on Laser Induced Plasma Spectroscopy and Applications, Pisa, Italy, October 2000, and is published in the Special Issue of Spectrochimica Acta Part B, dedicated to that conference.  Corresponding author. Tel.: 1-450-641-5113; fax: 1-450-641-5106. Ž . E-mail address: mohamad.sabsabi@nrc.ca M. Sabsabi . 0584-854701$ - see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S 0 5 8 4 - 8 5 4 7 01 00174-4