THE PROGRESS OF ¹⁴C-AMS ANALYSIS FOR ULTRA-SMALL SAMPLES AT XI’AN AMS CENTER

ABSTRACT As there exists a growing demand for chronological research and tracer applications using radiocarbon ( 14 C) analyses of samples smaller than 100 μg C, a compact micro-specific hydrogen graphitization method has been developed at the Xi’an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Center. This article describes the performance of the system and the mass of carbon background produced during ultra-small sample preparation. Furthermore, we discuss the results of contamination corrections and perform 14 C analyses on small samples with known age or reference values. The results reveal that our 14 C analysis of ultra-small samples of 10–100 μg C can obtain accurate and reliable results, and the micro-scale 14 C-AMS analysis technique meets our research objectives for dating and tracer applications.