The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 04, 1992
Filed:
Dec. 03, 1990
Charles H Logan, Botheil, WA (US);
SpaceLabs, Inc., Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A mass spectrometer includes an ion source for ionizing a sample substance to provide an ion current of predetermined beam width and energy. A mass filter includes a plurality of drift tubes wherein succeeding drift tubes are of increasing length separated by gaps that increase in length. The ion current is supplied to the mass filter along with an alternating current electrical signal in a manner so that particles having a predetermined mass receive a predetermined maximum energy increase while traversing the mass filter and so that particles not having the predetermined mass do not receive the maximum energy increase. A detector is provided to create an energy barrier whereby only particles that receive the maximum energy increase will have sufficient to completely traverse the barrier. Particles which traverse the barrier are detected thereby to determine the amount of particles having a predetermined mass that were contained in the sample substance.