Nu Instruments | Evaluating Magnesium Doping for Silicon Isotope Correction
This application note investigates the effectiveness of magnesium doping as a correction method for silicon isotope measurements. Results compare magnesium normalisation, sample-standard bracketing and combined approaches under both wet and dry plasma conditions.
Accurate silicon isotope analysis requires effective correction of instrumental mass fractionation and control of matrix effects. This study examined whether magnesium isotopes can provide a reliable external reference for silicon isotope correction.
Experiments were performed using both wet and dry plasma configurations with varying silicon-to-magnesium ratios. Long-term analytical sessions evaluated the relationship between silicon and magnesium fractionation behaviour.
Results showed that magnesium correction significantly reduced drift and improved precision. The combination of magnesium doping and sample-standard bracketing delivered the most robust performance, although matrix-rich samples remained challenging.
Key Takeaways:
- Magnesium correction substantially reduced silicon isotope drift.
- Combined magnesium and bracketing correction provided the best precision.
- Matrix-rich samples can still impact correction performance.
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