Development of nitrogen and oxygen certified reference materials in 10 μmol/mol for the purity evaluation

We have developed 10 μmol/mol nitrogen and oxygen certified reference materials (CRMs) in helium, as a SI-traceable gas standard for a quantifying of impurities in pure gases for the first time in Korea. The standard gas mixtures of nitrogen and oxygen were prepared in 5000 μmol/mol and sequentially were diluted to 250 μmol/mol and 10 μmol/mol according to the gravimetric preparation. In each dilution step, two cylinders of CRMs were prepared. The verification of internal consistency among the prepared gas mixtures was performed by using GC-TCD. The amount fractions and those expanded uncertainties (k = 2) of nitrogen and oxygen in the standard gas mixtures were (10.12 ± 0.08) μmol/mol and (10.18 ± 0.08) μmol/mol for nitrogen, and (9.88 ± 0.06) μmol/mol and (9.94 ± 0.06) μmol/mol for oxygen, respectively. We have conducted a purity assessment of two commercial helium gases using developed CRMs. As the results of the purity assessment, nitrogen and oxygen were detected by (1.66 ± 0.03) μmol/mol and (0.31 ± 0.02) μmol/mol, respectively, as the impurities in one of the pure helium.