Primary mass standard based on atomic masses

The paper summarises the activities of several national and international Metrology Institutes in replacing the kilogram artefact, the unit of mass, by the mass of a certain number of atoms, in particular the atomic masses of silicon or bismuth. This task is based on two different experiments: a very accurate determination of the Avogadro constant, NA, measuring the density and lattice parameter of an enriched silicon-28 crystal, and the accumulation of decelerated bismuth-209 ions by using a mass separator.The relative measurement uncertainties reached so far are in the first case 2 parts in 107, and in the latter several part in 104. The bismuth experiment is still in an early state of the work. The ratios between the masses of 28Si or 209Bi, respectively, and the present atomic mass standard, the mass of 12C, can be determined with an accuracy now approaching 10−10 using high precision Penning traps mass spectrometers.