Accurate measurement of ruthenium isotopes by negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry.

The method for measurement of ruthenium isotopic composition as RuO(3)(-) by negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry (NTI-MS) is shown to be sensitive and accurate. Precise measurement of the (18)O/(16)O ratio, which is important for oxygen correction in NTI-MS, has also been made. Both Re and Pt filaments were tested, and the latter was proved to be more efficient for negative ion production. The mechanism of ion production with the addition of HI as a reducing reagent and Ba(NO(3))(2) as an ionizing enhancer was also studied. Sensitivity was found to be about 100 times higher than that of the positive mode. Factors related to negative ion formation are discussed, and parameters are optimized. The ionization efficiency has been improved to 0.7%. Ten nanograms of Ru yielded a total ion current of 3 × 10(-12) A for 1 h. The precisions of all Ru isotope ratios with a 100 ng sample size were better than 0.009%.