Channel plate electron multiplier detector

Faraday cup is used to collect ions and thus provide a direct measure of the ion current. For higher sensitivity and rapid response, an electron multiplier detector is employed. In this device the accelerated ions impinge on a surface with the emission of secondary electrons. These are multiplied by a cascade along either a channel or set of plates having a large potential gradient. 

With the exception of an ICR-MS, nearly aU mass spectrometers use electron multipliers for ion detection. There are three main classes of electron multipliers discrete dynode multipliers, continuous dynode electron multipliers (CDEM), also known as channel electron multipfiers (GEM), and microchannel plate (MCP) electron multipliers, also known as multichannel plate electron multipliers. Though different in detail, aU three work on the same physical principle. An additional detector used in mass spectrometers is the Faraday cup. 

Complete MCP s can be stacked to provide even higher gains. For response in the vacuum ultra-violet spectral region (50-200 nm) a SSANACON, self-scanned anode array with microchannel plate electron multiplier, has been used (36). This involves photoelectron multiplication through two MOP S, collection of the electrons directly on aluminum anodes and readout with standard diode array circuitry. In cases where analyte concentrations are well above conventional detection limits, multi-element analysis with multi-channel detectors by atomic emission has been demonstrated to be quite feasible (37). Spectral source profiling has also been done with photodiode arrays (27.29.31). In molecular spectrometry, imaging type detectors have been used in spectrophotometry, spectrofluometry and chemiluminescence (23.24.26.33). These detectors are often employed to monitor the output from an HPLC or GC (13.38.39.40). 

The names of both detectors reflect that these devices are channels which act as continuous dynode electron multipliers. If there is one channel, it is called a channeltron (channeltron electron multiplier, CEM), if many microchannels are used to form a plate it is called a microchannel electron multiplier plate (in short a microchannelplate, MCP, or channelplate), see Fig. 4.17. A comprehensive description of these devices is given in [Wiz79]. 

Another type of continuous dynode electron multipliers is the microchannel plate (MCP) detector. It is a plate in which parallel cylindrical channels have been drilled. The channel diameter ranges from 4 to 25 pm with a centre-to-centre distance ranging from 6 to 32 pm and a few millimetres in length (Figure 3.4). The plate input side is kept at a negative potential of about 1 kV compared with the output side. 

Figure 16.26 MS detectors, (a) Discrete dynode model with active film (reproduced courtesy of ETP Scientific Inc.) (b) Continuous dynode model. Diagram of a channeltron the funnel shaped cathode permits the recovery of ions issuing from different trajectories. The curvature has the effect of preventing the positive ions which appear by the impact of electrons on the residual molecules and restricting therefore the production of further electrons (c) MicroChannel plate. Each plate consists of an array of tiny glass tubes. Each channel becomes a continuous dynode electron multiplier (d) Details of the conversion cathode. Multiplication of the electrons in a microtube (from illustration by Galileo USA).

Fig. 2 Portion of the collinear laser-ion beam apparatus. QDl, QD2, electrostatic quadrupole deflectors CEM, channel electron multiplier DP, deflection plates PD, positive ion detector FC, Faraday cup ND, neutral particle detector CG, conducting glass plate AP, aperture MP, metal plate A, any element. The distance between QDl and QD2 is approximately 0.5 m.

FIGURE 7.2 Components of the diffraction beamline mounted on rods to maintain a cylindrical symmetry around the electron beam axis. The e-beam passes through the trapped ion cloud producing scattered electrons indicated hy off-axis lines. The primary beam enters the Faraday cup and scattered electrons strike a mnlti-channel plate detector producing the diffraction pattern on a phosphor screen. This screen is imaged by a charge-coupled device camera mounted external to the UHV chamber. The electron multiplier detects ions resonantly ejected from the ion trap. 

Ion detection is provided by Faraday cups, electron multipliers, channel electron multipliers, cryogenic detectors, multichannel plate detectors, and electroop-tical detectors. 

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