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:
Jul. 24, 2007
Filed:
May. 29, 2002
Brian Christopher Webb, Wiltshire, GB;
Donald Clifford Young, Berkshire, GB;
Brian Christopher Webb, Wiltshire, GB;
Donald Clifford Young, Berkshire, GB;
ILIKA Technologies Limited, Chilworth, Southampton, Hampshire, GB;
Abstract
A mass spectrometer comprises an ion source which provides a beam of ions; a mass filter comprising a pair of electrodes and a drive circuit, the drive circuit operable to apply a time varying voltage to the electrodes having a profile that accelerates the ions to equal velocities irrespective of their mass: charge ratios; and an ion detector for detecting the proportions of ions according to their mass-to-charge ratios. In one embodiment, the voltage profile is exponential. In another embodiment, the voltage profile is a sequence of constant amplitude and increasing repetition frequency pulses. The novel mass filter thus imparts equal velocities to all ion species irrespective of their mass. This allows the ion species to be discriminated at the detector by energy, enabling simple and compact detection schemes to be used.