Point ion collector

A fuller description of the microchannel plate is presented in Chapter 30. Briefly, ions traveling down the flight tube of a TOF instrument are separated in time. As each m/z collection of ions arrives at the collector, it may be spread over a small area of space (Figure 27.3). Therefore, so as not to lose ions, rather than have a single-point ion collector, the collector is composed of an array of miniature electron multipliers (microchannels), which are all connected to one electrified plate, so, no matter where an ion of any one m/z value hits the front of the array, its arrival is recorded. The microchannel plate collector could be crudely compared to a satellite TV dish receiver in that radio waves of the same frequency but spread over an area are all collected and recorded at the same time of course, the multichannel plate records the arrival of ions not radio waves. 

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 point collectors (detectors), while Chapter 29 focuses on array collectors (detectors). 

Three main types point ion collectors are in use for quadrupole, magnetic-sector, and TOF instruments, and they are discussed here. The multichannel plate collector (or time-to-digital converter)... 

An ion beam causes secondary electrons to be ejected from a metal surface. These secondaries can be measured as an electric current directly through a Faraday cup or indirectly after amplification, as with an electron multiplier or a scintillation device. These ion collectors are located at a fixed point in a mass spectrometer, and all ions are focused on that point — hence the name, point ion collector. In all cases, the resultant flow of an electric current is used to drive some form of recorder or is passed to an information storage device (data system). 

An ion beam containing just two types of ion of m/z values 100 and 101 dispersed in space on passing through a magnetic field. After dispersal, ions of individual m/z value 100 or lOI are focused at points close to the entries of two elements of an array collector. Each element of the array is a point ion collector. 

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. 

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. 

Ions of different m/z values pass sequentially in time through the quadrupole mass filter to reach an in-line, single-point ion collector. 

By adjusting the magnetic field, the dispersed ion beam in Figure 30.2 can be moved up or down so that ions of specific m/z values can be focused at a point ion collector. 

A second use of arrays arises in the detection of trace components of material introduced into a mass spectrometer. For such very small quantities, it may well be that, by the time a scan has been carried out by a mass spectrometer with a point ion collector, the tiny amount of substance may have disappeared before the scan has been completed. An array collector overcomes this problem. Often, the problem of detecting trace amounts of a substance using a point ion collector is overcome by measuring not the whole mass spectrum but only one characteristic m/z value (single ion monitoring or single ion detection). However, unlike array detection, this single-ion detection method does not provide the whole spectrum, and an identification based on only one m/z value may well be open to misinterpretation and error. 

Recording of a dispersed ion beam can take place either at a point (see Chapter 28, Point Ion Collectors ) or across a plane, as in the array collector described here. 

By having a large number of point ion collectors in a line in a plane, many different m/z values can be recorded at the same bme (concurrently rather than sequentially, as with a single-point ion collector). 

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. 

By collecting all ions at the same time, a mass spectrum can be obtained instantaneously instead of over a period of time as with a point ion collector. 

Each element of an array or a microchannel plate ion collector is essentially an electron multiplier, similar in operation to the type used for a point ion collector but very much smaller. 

Alternatively, ions of any one selected m/z value can be chosen by holding the magnetic field steady at the correct strength required to pass only the desired ions any other ions are lost to the walls of the instrument. The selected ions pass through the gas cell and are detected in the single-point ion collector. If there is a pressure of a neutral gas such as argon or helium in the gas cell, then ion-molecule collisions occur, with decomposition of some of the selected incident ions. This is the MS/MS mode. However, without the orthogonal TOF section, since there is no further separation by m/z value, the new ions produced in the gas cell would not be separated into individual m/z values before they reached the detector. Before the MS/MS mode can be used, the instrument must be operated in its hybrid state, as discussed below. 

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