A new principle of activation-analysis separations-X Substoichiometric determination of traces of gallium

A rapid method for the substoichiometric determination of gallium by neutron-activation analysis has been developed. After irradiation and dissolution of the test sample, gallium carrier is added and two preliminary separation steps are performed: the extraction into chloroform of cupferrates from 7N sulphuric acid and of diethyldithiocarbamates from 2-3N sulphuric acid. The pH of the remaining aqueous phase is then adjusted to 5.5, the solution extracted with a substoichiometric amount of 8-hydroxyquinoline in chloroform and the activity of the gallium hydroxyquinolate extract measured. A simultaneously irradiated gallium standard is treated in exactly the same way. From the activities of these two substoichiometric extracts the amount of gallium originally present in the test sample can be calculated. The method has been applied to the determination of 10(-6) to 10(-3)% of gallium in metallic aluminium and transistor-grade silicon.