Nuclear and atomic activation analysis using lithium and boron beams

High energy (E > 2 MeV/amu) 7Li and 10B ion bombardment induces both nuclear and atomic activation. The activation parameters for the nuclear reaction of interest [1H(7Li,n)7Be, 1H(10B,α)7Be] and for K and L x-ray production have been studied. Detection limits in Ti for H (approx. .1 ppM) and for medium and high Z elements (i.e., 10 to 20 ppM for 24 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 92) have been measured. Therefore, with these beams simultaneous nuclear and atomic activation analysis is possible yielding an unusual multielement trace analysis capability. The feasibility of this approach was further examined on a titanium standard reference material NBS(SRM 353). Hydrogen was determined at the 100 ppM level with a relative precision of better than 10%. Spectra from the x-ray emission analysis yielded values for Mn, Fe, Ni, and Cu