New results are reported from an ongoing international research effort to accurately determine the Avogadro constant by counting the atoms in an isotopically enriched silicon crystal. The surfaces of two 28 Si-enriched spheres were decontaminated and reworked in order to produce an outer surface without metal contamination and improved sphericity. New measurements were then made on these two reconditioned spheres using improved methods and apparatuses. When combined with other recently refined parameter measurements, the Avogadro constant derived from these new results has a value of N A = 6.022 140 76(12) × 10 23 mol -1 . The X-ray crystal density method has thus achieved the target relative standard uncertainty of 2.0 × 10 -8 necessary for the realization of the definition of the new kilogram.

The molar mass of a 28Si-enriched crystal was measured at the National Metrology Institute of Japan to determine the Avogadro constant by the x-ray crystal density method as part of the International Avogadro Coordination project. The molar mass was determined by isotope ratio measurements using a multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer combined with an isotope dilution technique. The 28Si-enriched crystal was dissolved in tetramethylammonium hydroxide and three different blended solutions were used to correct for mass bias in the measurement. The molar mass of the 28Si-enriched crystal was determined to be 27.976 970 09 g mol−1 with a standard uncertainty of 0.000 000 14 g mol−1. This corresponds to a relative standard uncertainty of 5.2 × 10−9. This result is consistent with measurements reported by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany.

Highly efficient single-cell elemental analysis of microbial cells was achieved using a developed ICP-MS system with approximately 100% cell introduction efficiency and high time resolution.

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