Rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in a variety of advanced technology industrial and consumer applications and products, resulting in a growing need for REEs, which has led to increasing geological exploration to find new REE deposits. Although REEs occur naturally in geologic formations, they are usually at low concentrations. To determine the viability of new mine sites and whether expansion of existing mines is warranted, the accurate determination of REEs in samples from geological exploration is vital.

On the industrial side, high-purity REE materials have many advanced applications, but the purity of these materials directly affects the performance of the end product. Even impurities of other REEs can degrade the quality of high-purity REE materials.

Therefore, in both geological and industrial applications, measuring low levels of REEs is vital, leading to ICP-MS as the preferred technique due to its ability to accurately measure low concentrations. However, REEs pose a challenge to ICP-MS analysis as that REEs form interferences on other REEs. However, multi-quadrupole ICP-MS can solve the REEs interference issue, allowing for accurate, low-level measurement of REEs in both geological and high-purity REE samples.