Array Collectors Detectors

Ion detectors can be separated into two classes those that detect the arrival of all ions sequentially at one point (point ion collector) and those that detect the arrival of all ions simultaneously along a plane (array collector). This chapter discusses array collectors (detectors), while Chapter 28 focuses on point ion collectors (detectors). 

All mass spectrometers analyze ions for their mass-to-charge ratios (m/z values) and simultaneously for the abundances of ions at any given m/z value. By separating the ions according to m/z and measuring the ion abundances, a mass spectrum is obtained. 

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In modem mass spectrometry, ion collectors (detectors) are generally based on the electron multiplier and can be separated into two classes those that detect the arrival of all ions sequentially at a point (a single-point ion collector) and those that detect the arrival of all ions simultaneously (an array or multipoint collector). This chapter compares the uses of single- and multipoint ion collectors. For more detailed discussions of their construction and operation, see Chapter 28, Point Ion Collectors (Detectors), and Chapter 29, Array Collectors (Detectors). In some forms of mass spectrometry, other methods of ion detection can be used, as with ion cyclotron instmments, but these are not considered here. 

For either the in-line or hybrid analyzers, the ions injected into the TOF section must all begin their flight down the TOF tube at the same instant if arrival times of ions at a detector are to be used to measure m/z values (see Chapter 26, TOF Ion Optics ). For the hybrid TOF instruments, the ion detector is usually a microchannel plate ion counter (see Chapter 30, Comparison of Multipoint Collectors (Detectors) of Ions Arrays and MicroChannel Plates ). 

There are two common occasions when rapid measurement is preferable. The first is with ionization sources using laser desorption or radionuclides. A pulse of ions is produced in a very short interval of time, often of the order of a few nanoseconds. If the mass spectrometer takes 1 sec to attempt to scan the range of ions produced, then clearly there will be no ions left by the time the scan has completed more than a few nanoseconds (ion traps excluded). If a point ion detector were to be used for this type of pulsed ionization, then after the beginning of the scan no more ions would reach the collector because there would not be any left The array collector overcomes this difficulty by detecting the ions produced all at the same instant. 

An array ion collector (detector) consists of a large number of miniature electron multiplier elements arranged side by side along a plane. Point ion collectors gather and detect ions sequentially (all ions are focused at one point one after another), but array collectors gather and detect all ions simultaneously (all ions are focused onto the array elements at the same time). Array detectors are particularly useful for situations in which ionization occurs within a very short space of time, as with some ionization sources, or in which only trace quantities of a substance are available. For these very short time scales, only the array collector can measure a whole spectrum or part of a spectrum satisfactorily in the time available. 

Comparison of Multipoint Collectors (Detectors) of Ions Arrays and MicroChannel Plates... 

To differentiate tteir functions and modes of operation, the array collector of spatially dispersed m/z values is still called an array collector for historical reasons, but the other multipoint detector of a temporally dispersed range of m/z values is called a microchannel plate (typically used in time-of-flight instruments). 

The array detector (collector) consists of a number of ion-collection elements arranged in a line each element of the array is an electron multiplier. Another type of array detector, the time-to-digital converter, is discussed in Chapter 31. 

The major advantage of array detectors over point ion detectors lies in their ability to measure both a range of m/z values and the corresponding ion abundances all at one time, rather than sequentially. For example, suppose it takes 10 msec to measure one m/z value and the associated number of ions (abundance). To measure 100 such ions of different m/z values with a point ion detector would require 1000 msec (1 sec). For the array detector, the time is stiU only 10 msec because all the ions of different m/z values arrive at the collector at the same time. Therefore, when it is important to be able to measure a range of ion m/z values in a short space of time, the array detector is advantageous. 

Each element of an array detector is essentially a small electron multiplier, as with the point ion collector, but much smaller and often shaped either as a narrow linear tube or as somewhat like a snail shell. 

Alternatively, the ions in a mass spectrometer can also arrive at a multipoint collector as a temporally dispersed beam. Therefore, at any point in time, all ions of the same m/z value arrive simultaneously, and different m/z values arrive at other times. Ail elements of this collector detect the arrival of ions of one m/z value at any one instant of time. This type of detector, which is also an array, is called a microchannel plate collector of ions. 

The particle size analyzer, based on laser light diffraction, consists of a laser source, beam expander, collector lens, and detector (Fig. ] 3.45). The detector contains light diodes arranged to form a radial diode-array detector. The particle sample to be measured can be blown across the laser beam (dry sample), or it can be circulated via a measurement cell in a liquid suspension. In the latter case, the beam is direaed through the transparent cell. 

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