Detection and registration of ion clots in laser time-of-flight mass spectrometers

A number of factors influencing the measurement errors of analytic signals detected with secondary electron multipliers (SEMs) and registered with fast ADCs are analyzed. Such signals are generated in laser time-of-flight mass spectrometry at the stage of ion detection and recording of mass spectra. In particular, the effect of statistical factors and sources of systematic errors during both measurements of isotope ratios and elemental analysis is considered. Such errors as the statistics of formation of ion clots, the limited range of ADC records, discrimination during detection of ions of different masses, and others are considered. It is shown that, without taking into account the features of operation of SEMs and ADCs, both the statistical and systematic errors of measuring isotope ratios may reach several percent. The proposed operating modes of the detector, with allowance for its features, the design of the recording system, and use of formulas for calculating and correcting errors, allow their reduction to ∼0.10–0.01%