Vacuum housing system for MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry
AssigneeVirgin Instruments Corporation
InventorMarvin L. Vestal
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to ion source and vacuum housings for use in MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry which operates with any type of mass analyzer including linear, reflector, or tandem TOF-TOF instruments. By removing the requirement for the vacuum lock, the present invention allows operation of the ion source vacuum chamber at a pressure at least two orders of magnitude higher than conventional instruments. The present invention also requires only a single valve that isolates the ion source vacuum housing from the TOF analyzer vacuum housing. This is a significant improvement over vacuum locks in the art where the valve opening must be sufficiently large to allow the sample plate to pass through.
Claims25
A system for use in MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry comprising:
- (a) An ion source housing comprising:
- i) an x-y table for receiving and moving a sample plate in two dimensions transverse to the axis of a laser beam,
- ii) a sample plate holder for receiving said sample plate, and
- iii) a spring-loaded flap valve driven open by motion of the x-y;
- (b) a TOF analyzer housing;
- (c) a gate valve having a gate valve aperture located between the ion source housing and the TOF analyzer housing;
- (d) a vacuum generator system operably connected to the ion source housing;
- (e) an extraction electrode having an extraction electrode aperture;
- and
- (f) a high-voltage pulse generator which can be operably connected to the sample plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.