Mass spectrometer future developments

Activities for miniaturizing mass spectrometers (e.g., microplasma on chip or insertion of diode lasers in RIMS), for constructing cheaper and more compact instrumentation with the same performance or improved properties compared to existing instruments are required as the next generation mass spectrometers. The introduction of microwave induced plasmas or of p,-torches to reduce Ar gas consumption involves developments in this future direction. 

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is revolutionizing the measurements of refractory metals, such as titanium, and can provide a wealth of isotopic information that could only be obtained previously with great difficulty. ICP-MS has been used as a fast and sensitive technique for measuring 230Th in marine sediments (Shaw and Francis, 1991) and barium in seawater (Klinkhammer and Chan, 1990). For the future, advances in the capabilities of mass spectrometers can be expected (Table 4), developed by interdisciplinary groups of academic, government, and industry scientists. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that MS techniques will be appropriate for buoy development. 

Mostly, mass spectrometers have been used widely for nanodetection in NLC and NCE due to its low detection limits and ease of hyphenation with microfluidic devices. However, attempts have been made to couple other detectors with NLC and NCE. The state of the art of hyphenation of detectors in NLC and NCE is still in its development stage. More advances are expected in the near future for detection at extremely low concentrations for a wide range of molecules. 

Selected topics in Fourier-Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry instrumentation are discussed in depth, and numerous analytical application examples are given. In particular, optimization ofthe single-cell FTMS design and some of its analytical applications, like pulsed-valve Cl and CID, static SIMS, and ion clustering reactions are described. Magnet requirements and the software used in advanced FTICR mass spectrometers are considered. Implementation and advantages of an external differentially-pumped ion source for LD, GC/MS, liquid SIMS, FAB and LC/MS are discussed in detail, and an attempt is made to anticipate future developments in FTMS instrumentation. 

Due to the relatively small number of laboratories equipped with LD-FTMS, the method is not as well known or as highly developed as FAB ionization which is now available for most commercial magnetic sector and quadrupole instruments. The pulsed nature of the lasers typically employed are ideally matched with mass spectrometers capable of simultaneous detection or rapid analysis. Thus FTMS or time of flight (TOF) instruments are best suited for LD applications. However, the latter possesses limited mass resolution. This chapter will attempt to present the current capabilities and limitations of LD-FTMS and to address its future potential. 

The demand for these methods in peptide and protein separations in micro-quantity will increase. A new device which combines electrophoretic apparatus and a mass spectrometer or a sequencer may be developed in the near future. 

Future measurements should greatly increase our knowledge of the chemical composition of nanoparticles. The recent development of a novel laser desorption/ionization single-particle mass spectrometer (RSMS-II) (Carson et al. 1997 Ge et al. 1998 Phares... 

Miniaturization has already enabled significant inroads to be made toward the development of parallel analytical systems. For example, microfabrication techniques have been used to produce ESI emitters in an array format [89,90]. Miniaturized arrays of ion-trap mass spectrometers are being tested and developed with some success, and promise at least mass selective detection in a miniature parallel device in the near future [91]. 

The production rate of He is much higher than for any other cosmogenic nuclide. In minerals where it is quantitatively retained, He thus provides the chance to date exceptionally young surfaces. For example, we have derived an age of years for a sample from the 1993 lava flow of Lascar volcano (Chile) taken at 4540 m altitude a few months after eruption (Niedermann et al. 2001b), which illustrates the potential of He on timescales also relevant to archeological studies. New developments in noble gas mass spectrometry, such as the compressor ion source which improves the mass spectrometer sensitivity for He and Ne by two orders of magnitude (Baur 1999), may further increase the precision of He (as well as Ne) determinations in the future. 

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