Abstract

This paper describes PIXE/PIGE measurements on thin Micromatter Standard (5%) foils run over a period of 10 years. The selected foils were typically 50 lg/cm2 thick and covered the commonly used PIXE X-ray energy range 1.4–20 keV and the light elements F and Na for PIGE studies. For the thousands of thick obsidian and pottery samples analysed over a 6-year period,the Ohio Red Clay standard has been used for both PIXE and PIGE calibration of a range of elements from Li to Rb. For PIXE,the long-term accuracy could be as low as 1.6% for major elements with precision ranging from 5% to 10% depending on the elemental concentration. For PIGE,accuracies were around 5% with precision ranging from 5% in thick samples to 15% in thin samples or for low yield c-ray production. 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Long-term accuracy and precision of PIXE and PIGE measurements for thin and thick sample analyses [.pdf, 225.6Kb]