Laboratory equipment Mass Spectrometer Time of Flight

Mass Spectrometry

In its most basic definition, a mass spectrometer is a chemical analyser.

It measures the mass to charge ratio (m/z) of a sample and usually displays a resulting mass spectrum as a plot of component intensity as a function of m/z.

Mass spectrometers are used in a wide variety of applications from ensuring that our environment is clean and our food safe to eat, all the way through to neo-natal testing, assisting in the diagnosis of diseases or pioneering drug development.

These analytical instruments cover a broad spectrum of complexity from simple Residual Gas Analysers (RGAs) to highly complex Q-ToFs (Quadrupole Time of Flight) and Ion Trap mass analyser instruments.

One thing that unites all of these instruments is that they require to be operated under vacuum.

Just as there is a wide variety of instrument types, the range of vacuum equipment necessary for them to operate is also very diverse. An ion source might be running at atmospheric pressure with the inlet to the mass spectrometer at a pressure of tens of millibars, whereas a ToF or Orbitrap operating at 10-8 to sub 10-10 mbar.

More complex mass spectrometers often have multiple chambers housing complex ion optics operating at different levels of vacuum, often with additional gas flows being added mid instrument.

Leybold Vacuum has been ever present in the mass spectrometry industry from its infancy through to the present days.

As the sophistication of the instruments has increased, the demands upon the vacuum system have likewise developed accordingly.

Some examples are the development of customised multi-inlet turbomolecular pumps and application of specific oil sealed or dry primary vacuum pumps.

We have continued to rise to the challenges set by mass spectrometry OEMs, developing not only new and innovative products, but also how to work collaboratively with the industry. To achieve this, a specific group has been set up within Leybold.

The Customer Focussed Engineering (CFE) Team has been created, working in tandem with an OEM during the development and design phase of an instrument, understanding the vacuum requirements and creating innovative vacuum solutions which are timely, cost effective and reliable.