Relative sensitivity coefficient

It is characteristic of such a laser ion source that the experimental conditions for LIMS can be optimized with respect to a stoichiometric evaporation and effective ionization of solid sample material by varying the laser power density as demonstrated in Figure 2.20. Under certain experimental conditions fractionation effects can be avoided. Stoichiometric laser evaporation and ionization of analyzed material is found at a laser power density between 109Wcm 2 and 1010Wcm-2. In this laser power density range, the relative sensitivity coefficients of the chemical elements (RSC = measured element concentration/true element concentration) are nearly one for all the... 

Figure 2.20 Relative sensitivity coefficients as a function of laser power density in UMS.

Certified reference materials (CRMs) are mainly applied to validate the analytical procedure developed for routine analysis in order to determine the accuracy of analytical data, the recovery for selected elements, the uncertainty of trace element determination and the detection limits. Otherwise, in solid-state mass spectrometric techniques, such as SSMS, LA-ICP-MS, GDMS, SNMS or SIMS, one point calibration using CRMs has been established as an important calibration strategy to obtain reliable analytical data. The one point calibration is performed using the experimentally determined relative sensitivity coefficients (RSCs) on a suitable CRM with a similar trace/matrix composition. An RSC of a chemical element is defined as the ratio of the measured element concentration (experimentally determined) divided by the certified element concentration (accepted or recommended value of element concentration) in a given matrix. 

In contrast to all other mass spectrometric techniques, in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) the relative sensitivity coefficients of elements show a very strong variation, from the matrix and experimental conditions used, of up to six orders of magnitude. The RSCs vary considerably in... 

Quantitative trace element analysis of diamond by LA-ICP-MS using different synthetic multielement carbon based standards (e.g., cellulose pellets) is discussed by Rege et al 2, whereby 13C was used for internal standardization. Concentrations of 41 elements were determined in two fibrous diamonds from Jwaneng Botswana (JWA 110 and 115) by relative sensitivity coefficients measured using the synthetic cellulose standard. The analytical data were verified by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE).72... 

The application of SIMS, SNMS, SSMS and GDMS in quantitative trace analysis for conducting bulk material is restricted to matrices where standard reference materials (SRMs) are available. For quantification purposes, the well characterized multi-element SRMs (e.g., from NIST) are useful. In Table 9.5 the results of the analysis by SNMS and the RSCs (relative sensitivity coefficients) for different elements in a low alloy steel standard (NBS 467) are compared with those of SSMS. Both solid-state mass spectrometric techniques with high vacuum ion sources allow the determination of light non-metals such as C, N, and P in steel, and the RSCs for the elements measured vary from 0.5 to 3 (except C). RSCs are applied as a correction factor in the analytical method used to obtain... 

A quite different application of GDMS is the measurement of hydrogen and deuterium concentration, including depth profile analysis, e.g. in a gold electroplated layer on a CuSn substrate as described in reference.116 The relative sensitivity coefficient of hydrogen was evaluated by measurements of titanium standard reference material. 

Such approaches rely on so-called relative sensitivity coefficients (RSFs), ratios of the difference between the sensitivity of various elements, and these cannot be considered as fundamental constants. In fact, they provide no more than a quantitative measurement of the deviation of the method s result from the amount of substance, as issued from primary methods (if available). Other near-equilibrium plasma methods for the analysis of solids (glow discharge, sputtered neutrals secondary ion mass spectrometry) produce quite acceptable results for analytical practice. 

SIMS is mostly employed for microlocal analytical investigations. For example, isotope ratio measurements by SIMS have been performed in nuclear forensic studies to determine the age of Pu particles." For the age determination of Pu particles, relative sensitivity coefficients (RSC) were determined as correction factors for the different ionization efficiency of Pu compared to U. The age of a sample of known origin calculated from Pu/ " and °Pu/ U ratios agreed well with the reported age of 2.3 years." SIMS was employed for oxygen isotope ratio measurements in three different uranium oxide microparticles of nuclear forensic interest by Betti s working group." The... 

Fig. 9.8. Relative sensitivity coefficients in LA-ICP-MS [ La,0,/SrCO,/MnOi stoichiometric mixture perovskite (La , 5Sr ,MnO,)] compared to ICP-MS [A 0.7 ppm multi-element standard solution]. (Reproduced with permission of Springer-Verlag.)...

D-SIMS Dynamic secondary ion mass RSC Relative sensitivity coefficient... 

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