Title: absolute elemental sensitivity factor
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - absolute elemental sensitivity factor
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.09216
Status: current

Definition
Coefficient for an element by which the measured intensity for that element is divided to yield the atomic concentration or atomic fraction of the element present in the sample.

Notes
1) The choice of atomic concentration or atomic fraction should be made clear.
2) The type of sensitivity factor utilized should be appropriate for the formulae used in the quantification process and for the type of sample analysed, e.g. for homogeneous samples or segregated layers.
3) The source of sensitivity factors should be given to ensure that the correct matrix factors or other parameters are used.
4) Sensitivity factors depend on parameters of the excitation source, the spectrometer, and the orientation of the sample to these parts of the instrument. Sensitivity factors also depend on the matrix being analysed. Sensitivity factors also depend on the matrix being analysed. In secondary ion mass spectrometry this has a dominating influence.

Related Terms
- matrix factors: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09263
- secondary ion mass spectrometry: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09192

Source
- PAC, 2020, 92, 1781. 'Glossary of methods and terms used in surface chemical analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2020)' on page 1796 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2019-0404)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09216/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09216/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09216/xml

Citation: Citation: 'absolute elemental sensitivity factor' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.09216
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-21T16:39:17+00:00