Elemental characterization of the Avogadro silicon crystal WASO 04 by neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Analytical measurements of the 28Si crystal used for the determination of the Avogadro constant are essential to prevent biased results or under-estimated uncertainties. A review of the existing data confirms the high-purity of silicon with respect to a large number of elements. In order to obtain a direct evidence of purity, we developed a relative analytical method based on neutron activation. As a preliminary test, this method was applied to a sample of the Avogadro crystal WASO 04. The investigation concerned twenty-nine elements. The mass fraction of Au was quantified to be 1.03(18) x 10-12. For the remaining twenty-eight elements, the mass fractions are below the detection limits, which range between 1 x 10-12 and 1 x 10-5.

arXiv comment11 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables

References in corpus (1)

• An accurate determination of the Avogadro constant by counting the atoms in a 28Si crystal

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Improved measurement results for the Avogadro constant using a 28Si-enriched crystal
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• 30Si Mole Fraction of a Silicon Material Highly Enriched in 28Si Determined by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis
• Instrumental neutron activation analysis of an enriched 28Si single-crystal
• Neutron activation analysis of the 30Si content of highly enriched 28Si: proof of concept and estimation of the achievable uncertainty
• The detection of signals buried in noise