Trace element quantification in high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectrometry

✍ Scribed by D. Primetzhofer; P. Bauer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 434 KB
• Volume: 269
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-583X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2010.11.028

✦ Synopsis

The potential of high resolution Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) for identification and quantification of trace elements in thin films was investigated. A beam of 250 keV d + ions from the AN700 van de Graaff accelerator in Linz was used to characterize the composition of an organic multi-element compound, i.e. a thin film of dried human blood on a carbon substrate. It was possible to identify more than 10 chemical elements with high accuracy, in the absence of any matrix effects. For instance, the Fe concentration was determined with a relative error <3% (400 ± 10 ppm), in perfect agreement with standard blood test values. The detection limit of heavy elements with atomic number higher than Fe was found to be below 50 ppm.