Electron probe X-ray microanalysis for the assessment of homogeneity of candidate reference materials at the nanogram level.

A new approach to the assessment of homogeneity for powder samples of candidate reference materials with the help of electron probe X-ray micro-analysis (EPMA) is proposed. It is based on the utilisation of the Kolmogorov—Smirnov statistics coupled with the Akaike Information Criterion in the processing of the quantitative EPMA data. The evaluation of three IAEA candidate reference materials with the described approach is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]