Development of a Miniaturized Multi-Turn Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer with a Pulsed Fast Atom Bombardment Ion Source

Abstract

A miniaturized multi-turn time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer with a pulsed fast atom bombardment (FAB) ion source (FAB-MULTUM) has been designed and constructed in order to overcome the drawbacks associated with magnetic sector type instruments utilizing a FAB ion source such as size and weight. This instrument consists of a pulsed FAB ion source, a multi-turn TOF mass spectrometer, a detector, a vacuum system and electronic circuits. The size and weight of the system are less than H520 mm × L580 mm × W230 mm and 45 kg (including vacuum pumps and electronic circuits). The achieved resolving power and mass accuracy of this instrument were >25,000 and about 1 ppm, respectively, which are equivalent to those of magnetic sector type instruments, although the size and weight are much smaller than those of magnetic sector type instruments. The experimental results led us to the conclusion that this instrument enables accurate mass measurements and is a powerful tool for the confirmation of synthesized compounds.