The technologies in this category are primarily used to determine the elemental composition of samples, since they analyze at the atomic level.

Total market demand for atomic spectroscopy is forecast to grow 3.8% in 2016, reaching $3.7 billion. The largest individual product segment is x-ray fluorescence (XRF), which makes up 28.2% of total market demand. Historically, growth in this technology segment has been quite strong, but recent years have been more difficult as the global economy has flagged and commodity prices have remained low. Oil and metals in particular are two important end-user segments for XRF. However, XRF is still forecast to achieve growth in 2016, slightly faster than the overall average growth rate for the atomic spectroscopy market. PANalytical (Spectris) and Thermo Fisher Scientific are the top two vendors in this product segment. Other significant competitors include Oxford Instruments, SPECTRO Analytical Instruments (AMETEK) and Bruker.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is the second largest technology segment, making up 17.7% of the total atomic spectroscopy market. This segment remains one of the brighter areas for atomic spectroscopy and growth for this segment is forecast at 5.6% this year, tying with inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) as the growth leader. Primarily a research tool, XRD is continuing to slowly migrate toward QC applications, particularly in pharmaceuticals and semiconductor materials. Academic and government laboratories remain the primary customer bases. Rigaku and Bruker are the top two vendors. Rigaku boosted its share of the market with its acquisition of Agilent Technologies’ XRD business (the former Oxford Diffraction) (see IBO 3/31/15).

Atomic absorbance spectroscopy (AA) is the most traditional of the atomic spectroscopy techniques, with a significant installed base. Opportunities for growth have been limited recently due to the omnipresence of the technique, combined with competition from the other techniques in this area that offer advantages in speed or detection limits. Thus, growth for AA will only be in the low single digits for 2016. The next largest technique is ICP, which is one of the main competitors with AA in certain markets. ICP continues to have better opportunities for growth, and ICP demand will easily outpace AA demand this year. ICP can also be used with MS, and ICP-MS (along with XRD) is the fastest growing atomic spectroscopy market by technique in 2016. ICP-MS is the most sensitive atomic spectroscopy technique, and is typically used for measuring trace quantities that cannot be detected by any other technique. ICP-MS is also attracting interest due to unique applications in the analyses of small particles and clinical samples.

Other atomic spectroscopy techniques are generally forecast to experience low to mid-single digit growth for the year. The unfortunate outlier is arc/spark spectroscopy, which is forecast to experience a small decline in demand in 2016. The technique is almost exclusively used for metals analysis, and this industry has been belt-tightening of late.

Thermo competes in nearly all atomic spectroscopy techniques and is the leading vendor, with a 14% market share. Spectris, primarily due to the involvement of PANalytical in x-ray techniques, and PerkinElmer hold the second largest positions. Of the remaining vendors in the top six, Agilent is most involved in AA, ICP and ICP-MS, while Bruker and Rigaku are strongest in x-ray technologies. Other significant vendors include SPECTRO, LECO, HORIBA, Shimadzu and GE Analytical Instruments.