Isolating the Effects of MicroChannel Plate Parameters on the Ultimate Resolution in Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometers

摘要

TOF mass resolution can be improved with the use of MCPs that utilize smaller pore diameters and steeper bias angles with no measured loss in detection efficiency. Changing from a 5 (mu)m diameter pore / 12 deg bias angle MCP to a 2 (mu)m diameter pore/19 deg bias angle MCP improved the mass resolution by approx15percent for masses of 1000-3000 Da. The flatness of a mounted MCP is determined by the hardware and the design of the detector. Proper designs can routinely produce detectors with input surface flatness values <15 (mu)m over 25mm diameter areas. Improperly designed or assembled hardware can distort otherwise flat MCP.