Certification of high purity metals as primary reference materials - A challenge for multielement trace analysis

The Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing) (BAM) is establishing a system of primary reference materials to meet the demands for metrological traceability and to act as national standards in the field of elemental analysis. For all elements of the periodic table - except those that are gases or radioactive - two different kinds of reference materials are being certified. One is for analyte calibration (Type A) and one for problems concerning matrix matching (Type B). These substances are of very high purity and of defined stoichiometry. As far as possible, pure elements and metals rather than pure compounds are used. The certification of both types of material requires most elements of the periodic table to be certified at very low levels using trace element analysis methods. The application of these methods is described and examples of the certification of copper and iron are given.