Information obtaining method

Abstract

An information obtaining method for obtaining information about a mass of a component of an analyte using a time of flight mass spectrometer and obtaining information about a distribution state of the component based on the obtained information about the mass includes the step of: (1) adding a self-reactive substance to the analyte on a base to facilitate ionization of the component; (2) irradiating the analyte with a primary beam in the presence of the self-reactive substance, thereby ionizing the components and allowing resulting ions to fly; (3) obtaining information about mass of the flying ions using the time of flight mass spectrometer; and (4) obtaining information about the distribution state of the component on the base based on the information about the mass.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.