Molar mass of silicon highly enriched in²⁸Si determined by IDMS

Abstract

The molar mass of a new silicon crystal material highly enriched in 28Si (‘Si28’, x(28Si) >99.99%) has been measured for the first time using a combination of a modified isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) technique and a high resolution multicollector-ICP-mass spectrometer. This work is related to the redetermination of the Avogadro constant NA with an intended relative measurement uncertainty urel(NA) less-than or equal to 2 × 10−8. The corresponding experimental investigations of the International Avogadro Coordination (IAC) were performed using this novel ‘Si28’ material. One prerequisite of the redetermination of NA is the determination of the isotopic composition and thus molar mass of ‘Si28’ with urel(M(‘Si28’)) less-than or equal to 1 × 10−8. At PTB, a molar mass M(‘Si28’) = 27.976 970 27(23) g mol−1 has been determined with an associated relative uncertainty urel(M(‘Si28’)) = 8.2 × 10−9, opening the opportunity to reach the target uncertainty of NA.