TY - JOUR A1 - Gopala, Anil A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Use of mass spectrometric detection as a versatile process monitoring tool: reduction patterns in a milled ZnO/Al mixture JF - Analytical methods N2 - Mass spectrometric detection can play a prominent role in the assessment of different reactions occurring at varied temperatures in a milled ZnO/Al mixture. This is the first time that online mass spectrometric information was used as a tool for monitoring and understanding the chemical reduction process mechanism. We have observed four different types of reaction taking place: (1) distillation of Zn metal, (2) reduction of ZnO by activated Al, (3) melting of Al and finally (4) reduction of ZnO by inactivated Al. The experimental conditions and results observed by QMS were supported with literature data and physical measurement data from X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) which gave us an idea about the complex reaction cascade which occurred during the formation of the zinc metal. PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c0ay00057d SN - 1759-9660 SN - 1759-9679 VL - 2 SP - 451 EP - 454 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-21291 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bremser, Wolfram A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Lehnik-Habrink, Petra A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Töpfer, Antje T1 - Stability testing in an integrated scheme JF - Accreditation and quality assurance N2 - ISO Guide 35 deals with RM stability issues and scrutinizes the evaluation of stability testing results under the assumption that either there is no trend at all (a rather rare situation), or any observed deterministic change is insignificant and thus can be neglected. However, market demands for reliable reference materials are obviously not limited to stable or at least seemingly stable materials. In many analytical applications, analytes and measurands under consideration are known, or at least suspected, to be unstable on time scales that may vary widely from measurand to measurand. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) has developed (and successfully uses) an integrated approach in its certification practice. The approach is based on an initial stability study and subsequent post-certification monitoring. Data evaluation is model-based and takes advantage of all information collected in the stability testing scheme(s). It thus allows one to deal with any kind of instability observed, to assess limiting time intervals at any stress condition in the range tested, to estimate a final expiry date for materials with detected instabilities or the maximum admissible re-testing interval for seemingly stable materials, and to assess maximum admissible stress loads during delivery of the material to the customer. The article describes (and exemplifies) typical study layout, the model selection, and the integrated data assessment. KW - Certified reference materials KW - Stability KW - Shelf life KW - Arrhenius model KW - ERM PY - 2006 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-006-0152-6 SN - 0949-1775 SN - 1432-0517 VL - 11 IS - 10 SP - 489 EP - 495 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-14063 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gopala, Anil A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich T1 - Real time monitoring of chemical transformations during catalytic reduction using gas source mass spectrometry: carbon/zinc carbonate hydroxide JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - We report herein the utilization of a vacuum reduction distillation system (VRDS) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) to characterize chemical transformations in thermal analysis. The system initially designed to monitor metal purification by distillation is applied for the first time to the catalytic reaction of in situ formed nickel oxide during the carbothermic reduction of zinc oxide. PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c004179c SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 25 SP - 1378 EP - 1380 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-21911 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gopala, Anil A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Process methodology for the small scale production of m6N5 purity zinc using a resistance heated vacuum distillation system JF - Materials chemistry and physics N2 - Ultra high purity Zn (m6N5) was obtained through triple vacuum distillation using an m4N5 Zn as input material. High-volatile impurities were removed from the zinc matrix by vacuum evaporation, while traces having lower volatility than the matrix remained in the residual material after finishing of the entire purification process. The time required for the removal of the main high-volatile impurity (Cd) was monitored using a connected gas source mass spectrometer. During distillation the Zn vapor of the distillate was condensed on the cap of a glassy carbon crucible which was water cooled by a movable copper block. The temperatures were optimized for the removal of the volatiles and for the distillation process using vapor pressure data. High resolution glow discharge mass spectrometry was applied for the analysis and purity evaluation of the distilled and input zinc. The analysis confirmed the reduction of the metallic impurities from 43 mg kg-1 to 0.5 mg kg-1 (m6N5) after three consecutive vacuum distillations. An increase in the grain size and a decrease in the micro-hardness were observed for the purified Zn material. KW - Ultra high purity KW - Vacuum distillation KW - High resolution glow discharge mass KW - Spectrometry KW - Micro-hardness KW - Zinc KW - Purification PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2010.02.080 SN - 0254-0584 VL - 122 IS - 1 SP - 151 EP - 155 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-21127 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rudtsch, S. A1 - Gusarova, Tamara A1 - Aulich, A. A1 - Fahr, M. A1 - Fischer, J. A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Procedure for the impurity-related correction at the indium fixed-point JF - International Journal of Thermophysics N2 - Determining the influence of impurities on the fixed-point emperatures of the ITS-90 requires the completion of several tasks. In this paper, the Progress made at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and BAMFederal Institute for Materials Research and Testing is presented and remaining questions are discussed. The projected characterization procedure at PTB, which is based on the established SIE method (sum of the individual estimates), using a new indium fixed-point cell is described as an example. This procedure includes an SI-traceable chemical Analysis of the material in the fixed-point cell with sufficiently low uncertainties, the individual experimental determination of the influence of the quantified impurities on the fixed-point temperature, and the establishment of direct links to the phase-transition temperatures of the national standard and of an assumed material of ideal purity. A characteristic difference to the common practice is the chemical analysis of the fixed-point metal being done after determining the cell’s freezing temperature. This allows for the detection and consideration of contamination and purification effects due to the filling process, or due to the contact with the carbon crucible and other parts of the fixed-point cell. A chemical analysis of an indium fixed-point was carried out by BAM with relative measurement uncertainties below 30 % which have not been previously achieved. The results provide evidence for the precipitation of some impurities, which is apparently inconsistent with the corresponding binary phase diagrams, but was explained in a recent publication. Implications for the use of the SIE method shall be described briefly at the end. KW - Chemical analysis KW - Fixed-points KW - Impurities KW - ITS-90 PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-011-0915-0 SN - 0195-928X SN - 1572-9567 VL - 32 IS - 1-2 SP - 293 EP - 302 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht AN - OPUS4-23373 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Metrology in chemistry - a rocky road JF - Microchimica acta N2 - The application of metrology in chemical analysis is today hampered by psychological and practical barriers. The argumentation is based on the differences in physical and chemical metrology, which arises mainly from the objects of the measurements. The term “measurement” is discussed in the realm of analytical chemistry with a special focus on the inherent relation between chemical identification and determination as well as the consequent use of the concept of traceability and uncertainty. KW - Metrology in chemistry KW - Chemical analysis KW - Traceability KW - Uncertainty PY - 2008 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-007-0909-6 SN - 0026-3672 SN - 1436-5073 VL - 162 IS - 1-2 SP - 35 EP - 41 PB - Springer CY - Wien AN - OPUS4-17727 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gopala, Anil A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Mass spectrometry insight of the process mechanism during the vacuum distillation of zinc JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - Detection and monitoring of volatile elements released during the preparation of ultra high purity zinc by vacuum distillation (VD) is reported using online quadrupole gas source mass spectrometry (QMS). The theoretically calculated vapour pressures (pv) for the volatile impurity elements using Dushman constants and the practically observed mass spectra were found to be consistent (S. Dushman and J. M. Lafferty, Scienific Foundations of Vacuum Technique, 2nd ed., Wiley, New York, 1962). This is the first time that the potential ability of an online mass spectrometer was used for monitoring and understanding the process mechanism during the purification of metals (Zn) using VD. We here also illustrate our findings with the results from high resolution glow discharge mass spectrometer (HR-GDMS) analysis before and after the purification of Zn. PY - 2009 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/b904133h SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 24 SP - 887 EP - 890 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-19595 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gopala, Anil A1 - Zellmann, M. A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Mass spectrometric study of the impurity profile in Zn during reduction-distillation of ZnO with activated and inactivated Al JF - Journal of the American society for mass spectrometry N2 - In this work, we report on the application of hyphenated gas source mass spectrometry to study and understand the mechanism of the reduction-distillation of ZnO using Al powder as reductant in its activated and inactivated form. The experiments revealed that the purity of the Zn metal produced were superior using activated Al with respect to inactivated Al, i.e., m5N8 (99.9998% metallic based) versus m5N3. The achieved purity levels of Zn and the absence of high volatile Cd, Mg, and Sb impurities in the gas phase and the material collected were explained with respect to the impurity elements free-energy values, vapor pressure data, and an observed scavenging effect of the Ta crucible, which was supported by the on-line observed mass spectrometric profiles of the residual gas. PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasms.2010.04.009 SN - 1044-0305 VL - 21 IS - 9 SP - 1620 EP - 1623 PB - Elsevier CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-21910 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gopala, Anil A1 - Mahn, S. A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich T1 - In situ vacuum thermal mass spectroscopy for the selection of an environmentally friendly, energy saving catalytic additive and optimization of the process by a novel ignition mechanism JF - RSC Advances N2 - We report herein the utilization of vacuum thermal mass spectrometry (VTMS) for the selection of an environmentally friendly, energy saving catalytic additive and a novel ignition mechanism, which is complementary to catalysis for the reduction of zinc oxide with carbon. PY - 2013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ra40223a SN - 2046-2069 VL - 3 IS - 25 SP - 9677 EP - 9680 PB - RSC Publishing CY - London AN - OPUS4-28659 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Czerwensky, Michael A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Homogenitätsprüfung und Analyse von reinem Kupfer mit Laserablation-ICP-Massenspektrometrie JF - Metall KW - Laserablation KW - Kupfer KW - Homogenität KW - ZRM PY - 2007 SN - 0026-0746 VL - 61 IS - 11 SP - 744 EP - 745 PB - Giesel Verlag GmbH CY - Isernhagen AN - OPUS4-16153 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gusarova, Tamara A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Exploitation of the hollow cathode effect for sensitivity enhancement of Grimm-type DC glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - The hollow cathode (HC) effect was investigated in non-cooled 15 mm deep drilled flat metallic analytical samples that were easy to prepare. The deep cavity used ("complete HC" in contrast to "recessed HC" with 2-3 mm deep cavity) intensified the HC effect notably and therefore distinctly improved the detection power of the common GD-OES with planar cathodes. A signal enhancement of up to a factor of 150, not reported earlier, in comparison with flat conventional samples was achieved. A better separation of the analytical lines from spectral interferences was observed when the HC assembly was applied. Additionally, an effect of strongly enhanced intensities of atomic lines and somewhat decreased intensities of ionic lines was detected in the case of HC in comparison to usual planar cathodes. The investigations were carried out with samples of copper, steel and zinc matrices using both the same and individually optimised glow discharge (GD) electrical parameters. KW - Hollow cathode KW - Grimm type glow discharge KW - Emission spectroscopy KW - GD-OES KW - Sensitivity PY - 2009 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/b814977a SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 24 SP - 680 EP - 684 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-19600 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Wälle, M. A1 - Koch, J. A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Günther, D. T1 - Evaluation of different calibration strategies for the analysis of pure copper and zinc samples using femtosecond laser ablation ICP-MS JF - Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry N2 - Solution-doped metal powder pellets as well as aspirated liquids were used as calibration samples to analyze pure copper and zinc certified reference materials (CRMs) by femtosecond laser ablation ICP-MS. It was demonstrated that calibration by copper pellets resulted in relative deviations up to 20%, whereas fs-LA-ICP-MS among copper-based CRMs led to inaccuracies in the same range unless nominal mass fractions were chosen to be <3 mg/kg. Calibration by zinc pellets generally provided better accuracy. Depending on the analyte considered, deviations below 10% were obtained even for mass fractions close to the limit of quantification. Our data, therefore, indicate solution-doped metal powder pellets to be suitable as calibration samples for fs-LA-ICP-MS of metals. Furthermore, the utilization of liquid standards for calibration was found to result in stronger deviations of up to 50% for both copper and zinc samples which, in addition, turned out to be dependent on the plasma conditions. KW - Laser ablation KW - ICP-MS KW - Calibration KW - Copper KW - Zinc KW - Metal PY - 2009 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-009-3061-9 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 395 IS - 5 SP - 1471 EP - 1480 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-20402 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wienold, Julia A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Lange, Britta A1 - Giray, Thorsten A1 - Recknagel, Sebastian A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Elemental analysis of copper and magnesium alloy samples using IR-laser ablation in comparison with spark and glow discharge methods JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - Three methods for direct solid sampling of bulk material namely IR laser ablation, glow discharge and spark OES, were compared with respect to analytical figures of merit obtained for elemental analysis with atomic spectrometry. Matrices investigated were copper, pressed doped copper powder, and magnesium alloys. For the vast majority of analytes, statistical equivalence regarding precision (usually ≤ 5%) and the performance of the calibrations between the compared methods was demonstrated. KW - LA-ICP-MS KW - GD-MS KW - Spark-OES KW - LA-ICP-OES KW - Copper KW - Magnesium PY - 2009 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/b903251g SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 24 SP - 1570 EP - 1574 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-20257 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Czerwensky, Michael A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Different calibration strategies for the analysis of pure copper metal by nanosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - In this work, different calibration strategies for the determination of trace elements in pure copper metal by nanosecond laser ablation ICP-MS were investigated. In addition to certified reference materials (CRMs), pellets of doped copper powder were used for calibration. The micro homogeneity of the CRMs as well as the solution-doped pellets was sufficient to use them as calibration samples in combination with a laser spot size of 200 µm. In contrast, pellets doped with analytes in solid form showed a significant heterogeneity. For most of the investigated analytes and copper CRMs the measured mass fractions were within ± 20% of their certified values when other copper CRMs were used as calibration samples. When solution-doped powder pellets were used as calibration samples a systematic trend towards mass fractions below the certified values was observed for nearly all elements determined in the analysed CRMs. Thermal fractionation effects during the ablation of the solution-doped pellets were suspected as the extent of the fractionation depends on the irradiance, whereas fractionation is reduced at higher irradiance. PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/b915564c SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 25 IS - 5 SP - 690 EP - 696 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-21195 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Development of SI traceable standards for element determination JF - Chimia N2 - In Germany a system of primary amount of substance standards for elemental analysis is being developed, which forms the material´s basis for the National Standards for element determination. The metrological concept and technical approach is briefly described. The objective of traceability in chemistry, in this case for elemental determination, is illustrated on the example of copper. KW - Copper KW - Element determination KW - Metrology KW - Primary standards KW - Traceability PY - 2009 DO - https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2009.637 SN - 0009-4293 VL - 63 IS - 10 SP - 637 EP - 639 PB - Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-20727 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balski, Matthias A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Berger, Achim A1 - Meyer, S. A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Determination of impurities in solar grade silicon by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS) subsequent to matrix evaporation JF - Analytical methods N2 - A method for the determination of 22 trace impurities in solar grade silicon after dissolution in a mixture of HF and HNO3 and subsequent matrix evaporation is reported. The presented method involves a simple, inexpensive, one-vessel sample preparation apparatus design. The recoveries of B, Na, Mg, Al, P, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Mo, Sb, W, and Tl at 250 µg kg-1 level are in the range of 93 to 108%. After careful selection of monitored isotopes and their respective resolutions, a sector field mass spectrometer has been used to carry out the measurements. Limits of determination down to 120 ng kg-1 have been obtained using a calibration by three-point standard addition. The method was tested on diluted NIST SRM 57b silicon powder as well as on synthetic test samples and also applied successfully on raw solar grade silicon samples in an interlaboratory comparison including NAA. KW - Solar grade silicon KW - Matrix separation KW - Sector field mass spectrometry PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/C3AY41213J SN - 1759-9660 SN - 1759-9679 VL - 6 IS - 1 SP - 77 EP - 85 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-29893 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balski, Matthias A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Determination of boron in silicon without use of additional complexing agents JF - Analytical methods N2 - Methods for the determination of boron in various matrices described in the literature usually employ complexing agents like mannitol to retain the volatile boron species during matrix evaporation steps. However, also relatively high boron recoveries from silicon containing samples have been reported when no complexing agents were added to the digestion acids. The mechanism behind this matrix-dependant recovery has been investigated by studying the boron recovery in the analysis of solar grade silicon. It was found that the NH4+ ion formed by the reduction of nitric acid during sample digestion is responsible for the higher recovery of boron, which leads to a possible analysis method without the use of complexing agents if the sample preparation procedure is carefully optimized. KW - Boron KW - Complexing agents KW - Matrix evaporation KW - Sample enrichment PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ay00410h SN - 1759-9660 SN - 1759-9679 VL - 6 IS - 12 SP - 4003 EP - 4008 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-30956 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gusarova, Tamara A1 - Hofmann, T. A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Venzago, C. A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Comparison of different calibration strategies for the analysis of zinc and other pure metals by using the GD-MS instruments VG 9000 and element GD JF - Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry N2 - Synthetic pressed metal powder standards doped with standard solutions were used for the calibration of both commercially available high resolution GD-MS instruments Element GD and VG 9000 for zinc matrix. Different quantification procedures (IBR, Standard RSF, matrix matched RSF from the calibration with CRMs and use of doped synthetic standards) are compared using zinc matrix as an example, whereas the calibration with doped pellets turned out to be the best quantification technique for high-purity materials. The applicability of the Standard RSF concept is scrutinised. In this context, RSF values for several Matrices (Co, Cu, Fe, In and Zn) are reported additionally. PY - 2010 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/b921649a SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 25 SP - 314 EP - 321 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-22376 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gusarova, Tamara A1 - Methven, B. A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich A1 - Sturgeon, R. A1 - Matschat, Ralf A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Calibration of double focusing glow discharge mass spectrometry instruments with pin-shaped synthetic standards JF - Spectrochimica acta B N2 - Calibration of two commercially available glow discharge double focusing mass spectrometers, the VG 9000 and Element GD, is described using synthetic pin standards pressed from solution doped copper and zinc matrices. A special pressing die was developed for this purpose and optimal results were obtained with the highest possible pressures, i.e., 95 kN·cm- 2. This calibration approach permits the determination of trace element mass fractions down to µg·kg- 1 with small uncertainties and additionally provides traceability of the GD-MS results in the most direct manner to the SI (International System of Units). Results were validated by concurrent measurements of a number of compact copper and zinc certified reference materials. The impact of the sample pin cross-section (circular or square) was investigated with the use of a new pin-sample holder system for the Element GD. The pin-sample holder was designed by the manufacturer for pin-samples having circular cross-section; however, samples with square pin cross-section were also shown to provide acceptable results. Relative Sensitivity Factors for some 50 analytes in copper (VG 9000, Element GD) and zinc matrices (VG 9000) are presented. The field of applicability of GD-MS may be considerably extended via analysis of pin geometry samples based on their ease of preparation, especially with respect to the accuracy and traceability of the results and the enhanced number of analytes which can be reliably calibrated using such samples. KW - Glow discharge KW - Pin sample KW - Calibration PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2011.12.001 SN - 0584-8547 SN - 0038-6987 VL - 66 IS - 11-12 SP - 847 EP - 854 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-25346 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -