CORRECTION PROCEDURE FOR THE ELECTRON-MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF POROUS MATERIALS

A correction method is proposed for the quantitative determination of stoichiometric ratios in porous materials by electron microprobe analy sis. Analysis of this kind of material is complicated by an imperfect surface that can only be improved to some extent. The correction is ba sed on a linear dependence (different for each element) of the analyse s on a sum of weight concentrations of oxides. With this correction it is possible to use analyses affected by the imperfection of the surfa ce with much better confidence compared to common normalisation. An ex ample is presented for a series of ceramic superconductors Bi-2.1(SrCa )(2.9)Cu2O8+delta.