Method and apparatus for mass spectrometry

摘要

A collimated ion beam is directed along an ion path from an ion source 10 to an ion detector 80. A portion of the ion beam is caused to make contact with one or more surfaces 60 prior to reaching the ion detector 80, wherein the method comprises providing a coating on and/or heating the one or more surfaces 60 to reduce variation in their surface patch potentials, i.e. local perturbations of the surface voltage. The method is applicable to multi-reflection time-of-flight (MR TOF) mass spectrometry along with other methods of mass spectrometry.