Development of a Compact Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer with a High Mass Resolution and a Wide Mass Range

Abstract

A time-of-flight mass spectrometer with a reflector has been constructed in a compact device (<1.8 m long). Neutral clusters are photoionized and accelerated by dc electric potential up to 25 kV. Positive and negative ion clusters are accelerated by a fast rising (<80 ns) pulsed electric potential up to ±10 kV. The ion clusters are detected by a two-stage multi-channel-plate and the detection signals are recorded by a microcomputer with a multi-stop time-to-digital converter. Both a high mass resolution up to 5,000 and a wide mass range from 1 u to more than 200,000 u are attained.