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Organisationseinheit der BAM
We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS) interlaboratory study on the measurement of the shell thickness and chemistry of nanoparticle coatings. Peptide-coated gold particles were supplied to laboratories in two forms: a colloidal suspension in pure water and particles dried onto a silicon wafer. Participants prepared and analyzed these samples using either X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) or low energy ion scattering (LEIS). Careful data analysis revealed some significant sources of discrepancy, particularly for XPS. Degradation during transportation, storage, or sample preparation resulted in a variability in thickness of 53%. The calculation method chosen by XPS participants contributed a variability of 67%. However, variability of 12% was achieved for the samples deposited using a single method and by choosing photoelectron peaks that were not adversely affected by instrumental transmission effects. The study identified a need for more consistency in instrumental transmission functions and relative sensitivity factors since this contributed a variability of 33%. The results from the LEIS participants were more consistent, with variability of less than 10% in thickness, and this is mostly due to a common method of data analysis. The calculation was performed using a model developed for uniform, flat films, and some participants employed a correction factor to account for the sample geometry, which appears warranted based upon a simulation of LEIS data from one of the participants and comparison to the XPS results.
We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on the intensity scale calibration of x-ray photoelectron spectrometers using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative material to gold, silver, and copper. An improved set of LDPE reference spectra, corrected for different instrument geometries using a quartz-monochromated Al Kα x-ray source, was developed using data provided by participants in this study. Using
these new reference spectra, a transmission function was calculated for each dataset that participants provided. When compared to a similar calibration procedure using the NPL reference spectra for gold, the LDPE intensity calibration method achieves an absolute offset of ∼3.0% and a systematic deviation of ±6.5% on average across all participants. For spectra recorded at high pass energies (≥90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼5.8% and ±5.7%, respectively, whereas for spectra collected at lower pass energies (<90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼4.9% and ±8.8%, respectively; low pass energy spectra perform worse than the global average, in terms of systematic deviations, due to diminished count rates and signal-to-noise ratio. Differences in absolute offset are attributed to the surface roughness of the LDPE induced by sample preparation. We further assess the usability of LDPE as a secondary reference material and comment on its performance in the presence of issues such as variable dark noise, x-ray warm up times, inaccuracy at low count rates, and underlying spectrometer problems. In response to participant feedback and the results of the study, we provide an updated LDPE intensity calibration protocol to address the issues highlighted in the interlaboratory study. We also comment on the lack of implementation of a consistent and traceable intensity calibration method across the community of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) users and, therefore, propose a route to achieving this with the assistance of instrument manufacturers, metrology laboratories, and experts leading to an international standard for XPS intensity scale calibration.
ICP-MS has played a key role in inorganic chemical metrology for 25 years, from the 1993 CIPM feasibility study which led to establishment of the CCQM. Since that time, the Inorganic Analysis Working Group of the CCQM has organised 56 international comparisons involving measurements by ICP-MS and, in a recent comparison, 16 different national institutes submitted their results using the technique. Metrological applications of ICP-MS currently address an enormous range of measurements using a wide variety of instrumentation, calibration strategies and methodologies. This review provides an overview of the ICP-MS field with an emphasis on developments which are of particular relevance to chemical metrology.
Examples from CCQM comparisons and the services available from the participants are used to illustrate how the capability and scope of ICP-MS methods have expanded far beyond the expectations of 1993. This is due in part to the research and development Programmes of the national institutes which participate in the CCQM. They have played a key role in advancing new instrumentation and applications for elemental analysis, isotope dilution mass spectrometry, determination of isotopic ratio or composition, and speciation of organometallic compounds. These developments are continuing today, as demonstrated by work in new fields such as heteroatom quantitation of proteins, characterisation and counting of nanoparticles using spICP-MS, and LA-ICP-MS analysis of solid materials.
An international comparison study on the accurate determination of the molar mass M(Si) of silicon artificially enriched in 28Si (x(28Si) > 0.9999 mol mol−1) has been completed. The measurements were part of the high level CCQM-P160 pilot study assessing the ability of National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and Designated Institutes (DIs) to make such measurements at the lowest possible levels of measurement uncertainty and to identify possible difficulties when measuring this kind of sample. This study supports the molar mass measurements critical to disseminating the silicon route to realizing the new definitions for the kilogram and the mole. Measurements were also made by one external research institute and an external company. The different institutes were free to choose their experimental (mass spectrometric) set-ups and equipment, thereby enabling also the comparison of different techniques. The investigated material was a chemically pure, polycrystalline silicon material. The subsequent modified single crystalline secondary product of this material was intended for the production of silicon which was used for two additional spheres in the context of the redetermination of the Avogadro constant NA, required for the revision of the International System of Units (SI) via fundamental constants which came into force from May 2019. The CCQM pilot study was organized by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Aqueous silicon solutions were shipped to all participating institutions. The data analysis as well as the uncertainty modelling and calculation of the results was predefined. The participants were provided with an uncertainty budget as a GUM Workbench® file as well as a free software license for the duration of the comparison. The agreement of the values of the molar mass (M(Si) = 27.976 942 577 g mol−1) was excellent with ten out of 11 results reported within the range of relative uncertainty of 1 × 10−8 required
for the revision of the SI.
The lead authors failed to name two collaborators as co-authors. The authors listed should include:
Miss Claudia L. Compean-Gonzalez (ORCID:
0000-0002-2367-8450) and Dr. Giacomo Ceccone (ORCID:
0000-0003-4637-0771).
These co-authors participated in VAMAS project A27, provided data that were analyzed and presented in this publication (and supporting information), and reviewed the manuscript before submission.
The capabilities of National Metrology Institutes (NMIsthose which are members of the Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM)of the CIPM) and selected outside "expert" laboratories to quantitate (C4H9)3Sn+ (TBT) in a prepared marine sediment were assessed. This exercise was sanctioned by the 7th CCQM meeting, April 46, 2001, as an activity of the Inorganic Analysis Working Group and was jointly piloted by the Institute for National Measurement Standards of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC), UK. A total of 11 laboratories submitted results (7 NMIs, and 4 external labs). Two external laboratories utilized a standard calibration approach based on a natural abundance TBT standard, whereas all NMIs relied upon isotope dilution mass spectrometry for quantitation. For this purpose, a species specific 117Sn-enriched TBT standard was supplied by the LGC. No sample preparation methodology was prescribed by the piloting laboratories and, by consequence, a variety of approaches was adopted by the participants, including mechanical shaking, sonication, accelerated solvent extraction, microwave assisted extraction and heating in combination with Grignard derivatization, ethylation and direct sampling. Detection techniques included ICPMS (with GC and HPLC sample introduction), GCMS, GCAED and GCFPD. Recovery of TBT from a control standard (NRCC CRM PACS-2 marine sediment) averaged 93.5±2.4% (n=14). Results for the pilot material averaged 0.680±0.015 µmol kg1 (n=14; 80.7±1.8 µg kg1) with a median value of 0.676 µmol kg1. Overall, performance was substantially better than state-of-the-art expectations and the satisfactory agreement amongst participants permitted scheduling of a follow-up Key comparison for TBT (K-28), a Pilot intercomparison for DBT (P-43), and certification of the test sediment for TBT content and its release as a new Certified Reference Material (HIPA-1) with a TBT content of 0.679±0.089 µmol kg1 (expanded uncertainty, k=2, as Sn) (80.5±10.6 µg kg1). Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-2016-9.
Accurate and precise isotope ratio measurements of heavy elements are playing an increasinglyimportant role in modern analytical sciences and have numerous applications. Today, isotope ratio measurements are typically performed with two principal techniques: thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) and multiple collector-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). To obtain accurate results by mass spectrometry, isotopic certified reference materials (iCRMs) are needed for mass bias correction and for the validation of the method used for analysis.Thus, it is of paramount importance to achieve measurement comparability of all data reported, and to assess measurement capability of each CRM producer/National Metrology Institute (NMI). Therefore, the international comparison (CCQM-P213) was performed to assess the analytical capabilities of NMIs for the accurate determination of copper isotope ratio delta values in high purity materials. The study was proposed by the coordinating laboratories, National Research Council Canada (NRC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), as an activity of the Isotope Ratio Working Group (IRWG) of the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance - Metrology in Chemistry and Biology (CCQM). Participants included six NMIs and one designated institute (DI) from the six countries. Although no measurement method was prescribed by the coordinating laboratories, MC-ICP-MS with either standard-sample bracketing (SSB) or combined SSB with internal normalization (C-SSBIN) models for mass bias correction were recommended. Results obtained from the six NMIs and one DI were in good agreement.
CCQM-K143 is a key comparison that assesses participants’ ability to prepare single element calibration solutions. Preparing calibration solutions properly is the cornerstone of establishing a traceability link to the International System of Units (SI), and therefore should be tested in order to confirm the validity of CCQM comparisons of more complex materials. CCQM-K143 consisted of participants each preparing a single copper calibration solution at 10 g/kg copper mass fraction and shipping 10 bottled aliquots of that solution to the coordinating laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The masses and mass fraction for the prepared solutions were documented with the submitted samples.
The solutions prepared by all participants were measured at NIST by high performance inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (HP-ICP-OES). The intensity measurements for copper were not mapped onto values of mass fraction via calibration. Instead, ratios were computed between the measurements for copper and simultaneous measurements for manganese, the internal standard, and all subsequent data reductions, including the computation of the KCRV and the degrees of equivalence, were based on these ratios. Other than for two participants whose measurement results appeared to suffer
from calculation or preparation errors, all unilateral degrees of equivalence showed that the measured values did not differ significantly from the KCRV. These results were confirmed by a second set of ICP-OES measurements performed by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). CCQM-K143 showed that participants are capable of preparing calibration solutions starting from high purity, assayed copper metal.
Similar steps are involved when preparing solutions for other elements, so it seems safe to infer that similar capabilities should prevail when preparing many different, single-element solutions.
The determination of the mass fractions of bromide, sulfate, and lead as well as the isotopic composition of the lead (expressed as the molar mass and the amount fractions of all four stable lead isotopes) in an aqueous solution of sodium chloride with a mass fraction of 0.15 g/g was the subject of this comparison. Even though the mass fractions ranged from 3 μg/g (bromide) to 50 ng/g (lead), almost all results reported agreed with the according KCRVs.