Magnetic sector electrostatic analyzer

The direct imaging magnetic sector mass analyzer (Fig. 3.19) has the unique property that all parts (lenses, electrostatic analyzer and magnetic sector field) of the secondary ion optics are stigmatic (comparable with light microscopes). This means that all points of the surface are simultaneously projected into the analyzer. 

Most analytical problems do not require an abundance sensitivity of more than 500,000, which is about the maximum available with a single magnetic sector of reasonable size. Instruments with additional stages, either magnets or electrostatic analyzers or both, have been constructed to provide abundance sensitivity greater than 108 Fig. L10 is a photograph of one such instrument at Oak Ridge National Laboratory [50]. 

Combinations of magnetic and electrostatic analyzers have been used to make instruments with high resolution capable (with appropriate calibration) of accurate mass measurements. Because they are scanning instruments, magnetic sector analyzers suffer from duty cycle limitations, as do quadrupole analyzers. Furthermore, because the scan speed of the magnetic field is proportional to resolution, additional time is required to obtain a spectrum as resolution is increased. Scanning the... 

Fig. 2.9. General schematic of a sector mass analyzer. Ions extracted from the ion source are accelerated by an electrostatic field (accelerating potential, 10 and enter the sector analyzer with velocity, v. Electric (electric flux density, E) or magnetic (magnetic flux density, 6) fields bend the trajectory of the ions into curved paths with radius, r. Trajectories of ions with larger m/z are affected more than smaller ones. An illustration of the direction-focusing ion beam approach in a magnetic sector mass analyzer is shown in the insert. Due to the dependence of the radius of an ion s trajectory on its kinetic energy ( ) in the electrostatic sector mass analyzer and on its momentum (mv) in the magnetic sector mass analyzer, the systems are also referred to as ion energy and ion momentum filters.

By combining a magnetic-sector mass analyzer with an electrostatic analyzer (often termed a double-sector or double-focusing mass spectrometer), a significant improvement in resolution is realized. Such a double-focusing instrument can achieve a resolution of the order of 100,OOO.The double-focusing magnetic mass analyzer utilizes two independent sectors. In addition to the... 

The double-focusing combination of electrostatic- and magnetic-sector analyzers allows the inherent energy spread of the beam to be compensated for by design and ensures that there is no spread in the beam at the collector. 

Mass spectrometer configuration. Multianalyzer instruments should be named for the analyzers in the sequence in which they are traversed by the ion beam, where B is a magnetic analyzer, E is an electrostatic analyzer, Q is a quadrupole analyzer, TOP is a time-of-flight analyzer, and ICR is an ion cyclotron resonance analyzer. For example BE mass spectrometer (reversed-geometry double-focusing instrument), BQ mass spectrometer (hybrid sector and quadrupole instrument), EBQ (double-focusing instrument followed by a quadrupole). 

Fig. 3.19. Basic set-up of a direct imaging magnetic sector instrument. The stigmatic secondary ion optics consists of an electrostatic analyzer (ESA) and a magnet sector field.

Electrostatic Analyzer In magnetic-sector instruments, an electrostatic sector can be incorporated either before or after the magnet to provide energy resolution and directional focusing of the ion beam. The resolution achievable in these double-focusing instruments is sufficient to separate ions having the same nominal mass (e.g., 28 Daltons) but with different chemical formula (e.g., N2 and CO). 

Magnetic and electrostatic sectors, quadrupole, and time of flight analyzers belong to the first group, while ion trap, Orbitrap and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance analyzers separate ions in time. 

The first instruments used a single magnetic sector (symbol B) to effect separation of the ions. Later, the introduction of double-focusing instruments having an electrostatic sector or electrostatic analyzer (ESA, symbol E) in addition defined a standard which is still valid. 

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