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An investigation of the precision of isotopic abundances determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Testino Samuel A.,
Busch Kenneth L.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.1290070317
Subject(s) - chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , standard deviation , mass spectrometry , isotope , ion , relative standard deviation , natural abundance , tin , mass spectrum , secondary ion mass spectrometry , accuracy and precision , chromatography , detection limit , nuclear physics , statistics , physics , mathematics , organic chemistry
The precision with which the isotopic abundances of palladium and tin can be measured under secondary ion mass spectrometric (SIMS) conditions typically used for organic compound analysis has been determined. The relative abundances of the isotopic peaks, and their associated standard deviations, vary with the number of scans averaged to achieve a spectrum. A representative spectrum is not obtained until more than 40 scans are averaged. In addition, there is a strong correlation between standard deviation and absolute signal intensity. This relationship can allow one to determine the number of scans that need to be averaged to predict true experimental abundances reliably, based on signal intensities.