Spectro Analytical Instruments has launched the Spectro MS, which is claimed to be the first fully simultaneous measuring mass spectrometer with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-MS).
The Spectro MS records the entire elemental spectrum between lithium and uranium for every analysis.
The company said users can achieve a greatly increased sample throughput rate and much better precision and accuracy compared with using a sequential mass spectrometer.
Simultaneous recording of the entire spectrum is enabled by a series of newly designed high-end components.
An ion optic is said to be efficient in transporting ions from the plasma into the mass spectrometer itself, while reliably removing neutral particles and photons from the beam.
A double-focusing sector field mass spectrometer with a Mattauch-Herzog design, an electrostatic analyser and a permanent magnet are utilised to direct the ions onto a focal plane without additional scanning of the ion beam.
A powerful direct charge detector with 4,800 channels is placed in the focal plane of the mass spectrometer recording simultaneously the entire mass spectrum from lithium to uranium with an average of 20 channels per isotope.
Each of these channels is additionally divided into two separate detectors with different signal amplification.
This enables the Spectro MS to achieve a dynamic working range that allows even extreme isotope ratios to be precisely determined.
With the sleep-mode, the robust and user-friendly vacuum system features low energy consumption.
The housing, software and excitation technology for the Spectro MS are closely related to those of the Spectro Arcos.
A robust, free-running 27.12MHz generator is used as the plasma generator in the new instrument, guaranteeing stable power coupling in the plasma.
The range of applications for the new Spectro MS is diverse, and includes public and commercial research and development laboratories.
In addition to research laboratories, simultaneous mass spectrometry is attractive for many branches of industry; environmental, chemical and pharmaceutical laboratories benefit from the instrument's detection limits and sample throughput rates.
Precious metal processors and refineries will appreciate the high precision of the instrument.
New applications can be developed with the option to examine isotope ratios together with the ability to transfer the precision of the isotope ratio analysis to the quantitative determination of element contents using isotope dilution.
In this way, geology laboratories can more accurately characterise samples.
