Quantitative analysis of He in solids by sputtered neutral mass spectrometry

Sputtered neutral mass spectrometry is shown to be a very sensitive, depth‐differential technique for the analysis of helium in solids. Detection limits in nickel are some 10 ppm for near‐surface He distributions and can be lowered to a few ppm if extreme depth resolution is not important. Range parameters of ⁴He in Ni and Si agree very well with theoretical data. Quantitative evaluation of He concentrations with an accuracy of 4% can be done by producing an internal standard via in situ ion implantation.