Addition to our article about sensitivity and noise in VSM measurement
About precision and accuracy This cartoon was created by Dr. Neil Dilley and was employed in user workshops.
Our last issue of Spectrum included an article about sensitivity and noise in VSM measurements. In this issue we would like to present to you feedback from two of your readers in a summarized form.
With regard to the terminology in metrology, a reader from Halle (Saale) in Germany refers to a publication from 1990 [1]. The authors C. J. Powell and M. P. Seah give an overview of various metrological terms such as repeatability, precision, accuracy, systematic error, etc. In total, they describe 16 (!) terms, referring to an ISO publication. The latest version can be found at the link given under [2].
One of our readers from Braunschweig points out that sensitivity and noise are two different quantities that are, basically, not linked. Sensitivity is defined in DIN 1319 as the “change in the value of the output variable (e.g. a voltage) related to the change in the value of an input variable (e.g. a magnetic field)”. Noise, on the other hand, is determined based on the sum of single, non-deterministic events.
We sincerely thank these two readers for their input and would like to encourage all readers to get in touch with us and send us feedback.
[1] C. J. Powell, M.P. Seah, „Precision, accuracy, and uncertainty in quantitative surface analyses by Auger-electron spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy” Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A 8, 735 (1990)
[2] Bureau International des Poids et Mesures “International Vocabulary of Metrology” https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/vim.html
