High resolution detection for time-of-flight mass spectrometers
US6870156B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 13, 2003 |
| Grant date | Mar 22, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 13, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01J49/40
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention covers a method for detecting ions in high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometers which operate with secondary electron multiplier multichannel plates and in which many single spectra are acquired and added to produce a sum spectrum. The invention involves (a) using an analog digital converter (ADC) for converting electron currents from secondary electron multipliers, instead of a time-to-digital converter (TDC) which was previously used for highest possible signal resolution, (b) performing a separate rapid peak recognition procedure for the ion signals of each spectrum by a fast calculation method, thereby collecting flight time and intensity value pairs for the ion peaks, and (c) constructing a time-of-flight/intensity histogram, which is further processed as a composite time-of-flight spectrum. The invention retains the significantly higher measurement dynamics of an ADC and achieves the improved resolution capability of a TDC, but without showing the latter's known signal distortion due to dead times.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.