Accurate metal and oxygen analyses of cuprate single crystals by electron probe microanalysis

Accurate knowledge of the stoichiometry of single crystals has been one of the major experimental problems in cuprate superconductivity, particularly when studying dopants or nonstoichiometric systems such as Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O. In this paper it is shown that Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) can be used to perform non-destructive stoichiometric analyses of all the elements in single crystals of cuprate superconductors to an accuracy of approximately 2%. The paper gives a detailed description of the special methods that must be employed to obtain this accuracy.