Application of triton activation for oxygen determination

Consideration is given to possibilities of the method for determining low oxygen concentrations, based on using second order reactions with participation of tritons, formed under 6Li nuclei neutron irradiation. A study was made on two versions of sample activation (mixing of tritium-forming material with analyzed sample and its application or sticking on sample surface), as well as on the influence of chemical state and relationship of these materials on metrological parameters of analysis technique. Samples were irradiated in reactor channel in neutron field with 1013cm-2xs-1 flux density during 2 min. The detection limit of oxygen in silicon equals 10μg/g at 2h duration of sample activation; the detection limit achieves ∼5μg/g at activation duration up to saturation. Errors of determination don't exceed 35%