DEVICE AND METHOD FOR HIGHLY LOCALIZED MASS SPECTROMETRIC ANALYSIS AND IMAGING

摘要

A device and a method for localized mass spectrometric analysis of a sample surface (204) are disclosed. The device comprises an optical system, preferably a scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) setup (2), which serves to ablate sample atoms/molecules from the sample surface with high spatial resolution, preferably at atmospheric pressure. These are transferred to an ion trap (410) by suitable transfer means (5), advantageously through a transfer tube by action of a pressure difference. The atoms/molecules are ionized, preferably by chemical ionization, and accumulated in the ion trap (410). After a sufficient number of ions have been accumulated, they are analyzed by a mass analyzer (3), preferably of the time-of-flight type.