Measurement of the isotopic abundance of boron-10 by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry

Figures & data

Table 1. Measurement conditions of ICP-QMS (ICP-MS Agilent 4500).

Plasma conditions
RF power	1340 W
RF matching	2 V
Carrier gas	Ar, 1.11 L/min
Blend gas	0 L/min
Sample tube diameter	0.3 mm
Peristaltic pump (for measurement)	0.1 rps
Peristaltic pump (for rinsing)	0.3 rps
Spray chamber	Scot
Spray chamber temperature	2°C
Nebulizer	Cross flow
Mass spectrometer
Type	Quadrupole
Scanning mode	Isotopic
Points per peak	1 (peak top)
Monitoring mass number	m/z = 10, 11
Resolution (width at 10% of the peak height)	0.8 amu
Detector	Secondary electron multiplier

Table 2. Measurement conditions of TIMS (Varian MAT CH-5 mass spectrometer) [20].

Filament	Rhenium, single filament
Monitoring mass number	m/z = 88, 89 (Na2BO2 ^+)
Mass spectrometer type	Single focusing magnetic sector
Detector	Faraday cup single collector

Figure 1. Flow chart of measurement procedure for isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B.

Figure 2. Effect of integration time and dwell time on relative standard deviation (RSD) of isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B measured by ICP-QMS. Each RSD was obtained by 10 measurements.

Figure 3. Isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in B₄C sample A (Grade #60–#80) measured by ICP-QMS.

Table 3. Isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of B₄C samples measured by TIMS and ICP-QMS.

Sample	TIMS		ICP-QMS
	^10B (%)	N*	^10B (%)	RSD (%)	f	N*
A	20.00 ± 0.04	1	20.01 ± 0.02	0.06 ∼ 0.17	1.03 ∼ 1.05	10
B	20.04 ± 0.04	1	20.03 ± 0.02	0.09 ∼ 0.11	1.03 ∼ 1.04	3
C	19.97 ± 0.04	1	19.96 ± 0.03	0.10 ∼ 0.16	1.04 ∼ 1.05	3
D	19.96 ± 0.04	1	19.94 ± 0.01	0.05 ∼ 0.08	1.03 ∼ 1.04	3
Note: *Number of measurements.

Nomura , M. , Okamoto , M. and Kakihana , H. 1973 . Determination of boron isotope ratio by the surface ionization [in Japanese] . J. Mass Spectrom. Soc. Jpn , 21 : 277 – 281 .

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