Hadamard Transform Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Multiplexed Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometers, such as the Hadamard Transform TOFMS (HT-TOFMS), show great promise in increasing MS sensitivity and spectral acquisition speed. Multiplexing the ion beam allows multiple ion packets to simultaneously coexistin the instrument flight tube, advantageously changing a pulsed TOF-MS into a continuously operating instrument. The heart of a HT-TOFMS, and the primary unique feature of the instrument, is the Beam Modulation Device (BMD). This finely spaced electrodestructure spatially and temporally modulates the ion beam. The performance of the HT-TOFMS instrument is crucially dependent on the physical fidelity and electrical performance of the BMD. An example of a BMD employed in Stanford''s HT-TOFMS is theBradbury-Nielsen Gate (BNG). To date, BNG''s have been fabricated by hand, and have reached the performance limits of a hand assembled approach. Biospect, in collaboration with the Zare Lab of Stanford University, shall design, simulate, andmicrofabricate several types of monolithic BMDs for incorporation into a field portable HT-TOFMS. Such microfabricated BMDs will improve the manufacturability, ruggedness, reliability, and measurement repeatability of HT-TOFMS instruments. Time-of-FlightMass Spectrometers with greater sensitivity and acquisition speed. More readily manufacturable Multiplexed/Hadamard Transform TOF-MS. Improved physical robustness (ruggedness) of a Multiplexed/Hadamard Transform TOF-MS.