Method of operating a secondary-electron multiplier in the ion detector of a mass spectrometer
US11581174B2 · kind B2 · utility
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 31, 2021 |
| Grant date | Feb 14, 2023 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 31, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01J49/40
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The disclosure relates to a method of operating a secondary-electron multiplier in the ion detector of a mass spectrometer so as to prolong the service life, wherein the secondary-electron multiplier is supplied with an operating voltage in such a way that an amplification of less than 106 secondary electrons per impinging ion results, while the output current of the secondary-electron multiplier is amplified using an electronic preamplifier mounted close to the secondary-electron multiplier with such a low noise level that the current pulses of individual ions impinging on the ion detector are detected above the noise at the input of a digitizing unit. Further disclosed are the use of the methods for imaging mass spectrometric analysis of a thin tissue section or mass spectrometric high-throughput analysis/massive-parallel analysis, and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer whose control unit is programmed to execute such methods.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.