| 摘要 |
A time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) array instrument is provided. Ea ch TOF-MS of the array instrument includes (1) a gridless, focusing ionization extraction device allowing for the use of very high extraction energies in a maintenance-free design, (2) a fiberglass-clad flexible circuit-board reflector using rolled flexible circuit-board material, and (3) a low-noise, center-hole microchannel plate detector assembly that significantly reduces the noise (or "ringing") inherent in the coaxial design. The miniature TOF-M S array allows for the bundling of a plurality of mass analyzers, e.g., a plurality of TOF-MSs, into a single array working in parallel fashion to greatly enhance the throughput of each TOF-MS in the array by multiplexing t he data collection process. A preferred embodiment of the TOF-MS array instrume nt incorporates 16 TOF-MS units that are arranged in mirror-image clusters of eight units.
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