In this study the microscopic homogeneity of the newly developed plastic reference materials BAM H001-BAM H010 was investigated. The materials consist of an acrylonitryle-butadien-styrene terpolymer, doped with different amounts of the elements Br, Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb. For the quantitative determination of the degree of homogeneity, a procedure proposed by Kempenaers et al. (Fresenius J. Anal. Chem., 2001, 369, 733-737) was used. On every sample an extensive number of different points were analyzed and standard deviation for every element mentioned above was used to calculate a minimal sampling mass that is necessary to reach a certain level of uncertainty caused by inhomogeneity (mmin,5%). The experiments were taken out with synchrotron µ-XRF (SR µ-XRF) at BESSYII in Berlin and by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS). The calculated values for mmin,5% of both techniques showed comparable results for all elements. It could be shown that the materials are suitable for calibration of micro analytic techniques if at least 64 µg are used.
A new setup for fast spatially resolved measurements of elemental trace amounts under total reflection conditions using a new colour X-ray camera is described. Samples prepared on conventional total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) reflectors were measured at BESSY II synchrotron. A spatial resolution of 50 × 50 µm² was obtained, while the required time for the investigation of a 10 × 10 mm² sample is 30 seconds. The set-up is up to 350 times faster than conventional X-ray fluorescence systems for elemental traces. The major components of the X-ray camera are polycapillary optics and a pn-CCD chip with an active area of 13 × 13 mm². This area is divided into 264 × 264 pixels of 48 × 48 µm². A full X-ray spectrum with a resolution of 152 eV @ 5.9 keV and a chip temperature of 246 K is recorded for each pixel. The chip has a read-out rate of 400 Hz.