Standard dissolution techniques in graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) allow no locally resolved analysis of bulk material and show all the problems of the dissolution step. A solid sampling technique by sputtering material from the sample onto L'vov platforms was developed and applied to the determination of metal traces in ultrapure silver and gold samples. The sputtering uses about 0.5-1 mg of material from an area of 1 mm 2 , which is transferred onto 12 platforms. Two of the platforms were used for the determination of the mass of the sputtered matrix by dissolving the transferred layer and its determination by flame AAS. From the remaining ten platforms the trace elements Pd, Cr, Pb, Bi, Mn, Sn and Pt were determined. This paper describes a method to overcome matrix interference. The concentration values obtained with the sputtering method agree well with the measurements of the supplier. Some variation arises if the material is sputtered from different spots on the target.