Patent · US Expired

Method of improving mass resolution in time-of-flight mass spectrometry

US5742049A · kind A · utility

62Cited by

8References

8Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Bruker-Franzen Analytik GmbH · DE

Inventors

Armin Holle · Oyten, DE
Claus Koster · Lilienthal, DE
Jochen Franzen · Bremen, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Mar 20, 1996
Grant date	Apr 21, 1998
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Mar 20, 2016

Classification

Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
CPC primaryH01J49/403
WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention relates to the use of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer to analyze substance molecules which are ionized by laser desorption, particularly by matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALDI). In detail it relates to the process for improving mass resolution by the known method of delayed acceleration (sometimes called delayed extraction) of the ions, and devices for the performance of this method. The invention consists of using an optical device with gridless apertures for the acceleration of the ions and refocusing the ion beam divergence due to the lens effect of the apertures, by means of a lens arrangement in the drift region of the time-of-flight spectrometer. For laser light pulses, illumination, and observation, there are further lateral holes in the electrodes of the optical device.

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