Thermo Finnigan LLC

Raman Mathur

Viatcheslav V Kovtoun

Harald Oser

David E Minkler

Thi Le

Determining a level of a liquid in a container is described. In one aspect, a container includes a calibrant liquid used for calibrating a mass spectrometer. A conductive layer is placed to float upon the calibrant liquid, and a circuit board with electrodes is arranged around the container. A controller circuit then drives and measures various electrodes to first identify which two electrodes the level of the calibrant liquid is between, and then subsequently identify a more precise location for the level between the two electrodes.

Mass spectrometery calibrant liquid container level sensing

A first multipole assembly includes a first plurality of rod electrodes arranged about an axis and configured to confine ions radially about the axis. A second multipole assembly disposed adjacent to the first multipole assembly includes a second plurality of rod electrodes arranged about the axis and configured to confine the ions radially about the axis. An orientation of the first multipole assembly about the axis is rotationally offset relative to an orientation of the second multipole assembly about the axis.

Multipole assembly configurations for reduced capacitive coupling

A novel electron multiplier that regulates in real time the gain of downstream dynodes as the instrument receives input signals is introduced. In particular, the methods, electron multiplier structures, and coupled control circuits of the present invention enable a resultant on the fly control signal to be generated upon receiving a predetermined threshold detection signal so as to enable the voltage regulation of one or more downstream dynodes near the output of the device. Accordingly, such a novel design, as presented herein, prevents the dynodes near the output of the instrument from being exposed to deleterious current pulses that can accelerate the aging process of the dynode structures that are essential to the device.

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Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Raman Mathur