摘要 |
The present invention relates to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) in which a collision cell is employed to selectively remove unwanted artefact ions from an ion beam by causing them to interact with a reagent gas. The present invention provides a first evacuated chamber ( 6 ) at high vacuum located between an expansion chamber ( 3 ) and a second evacuated chamber ( 20 ) containing the collision cell ( 24 ). The first evacuated chamber ( 6 ) includes a first ion optical device ( 17 ). The collision cell ( 24 ) contains a second ion optical device ( 25 ). The provision of the first evacuated chamber ( 5 ) reduces the gas load on the collision cell ( 24 ), by minimising the residual pressure within the collision cell ( 24 ) that is attributable to the gas load from the plasma source ( 1 ). This serves to minimise the formation, or re-formation, of unwanted artefact ions in the collision cell ( 24 ).
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