Quantification in SNMS

The basic relationship between the ion current / (a) of a particular mass x collected and the concentration of the element of that mass in the sample is the same as in SIMS (see Eq. (13)) and can be written 

The best way to perform quantitative SNMS with reliable standards is the following  

Choose the standard as having similar microstructure and texture to the sample to be analyzed in order to avoid topographical and angular effects (use a microscope for the comparison, if necessary). Similar composition is of course necessary. 

Calibrate the instrument using the standard and fix the instrumental parameters (i.e.. ion energy, plasma or e-beam characteristics, spectrometer position, etc). 

Analyze the unknown sample under the same instrumental conditions. 

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