Patent · US Expired

Calibration of a mass spectrometer

US4847493A · kind A · utility

27Cited by
11References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 9, 1987
Grant dateJul 11, 1989
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 9, 2007

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01J49/0009
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Apparatus and method are provided for calibrating a mass spectrometer. The calibration hardware includes a relatively small, relatively low pressurized tank for containing calibration gas. The calibration gas tank is preferably located inside the same housing that contains the ion source assembly and the analyzing section of the mass spectrometer. Each of the calibration gas and sample gas, whose components are to be determined, communicates with its own associated valve. These two valves control the flow of a selected one of the sample gas and the calibration gas to the ion source assembly. The calibration gas valve has an extremely low leakage rate and can be controlled to permit the passage of very low flow rates of calibration gas, which can be of benefit in checking the linearity associated with the ion source assembly pressure. For each calibration procedure, very small amounts of calibration gas are utilized, in a range around 10.sup.-5 STD cc. A related method for conditioning an electron multiplier device is also disclosed in which the gain of one or more selected channels thereof is modified so that the output signal strengths of the device are comparable in magnitude. Ca…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.