EC-MS TECHNOLOGY

The system contains an integrated vacuum system controlled by pneumatic valves via the user-friendly graphical user interface. Additionally, the system allows for rapid chip exchange with an automated pump-down procedure. A new chip can be installed in a few minutes without stopping pumps or turning off the spectrometer. This allows the user to dedicate different chips for experiments in special electrolytes or different electrode materials and switch between experiments in minutes.

If the system did not have an optimized, integrated vacuum system, the entire chamber would have to be vented every time a new sample or chip was exchanged. Not only is this a very time-consuming process, but it also dramatically compromises the vacuum quality in the MS chamber, increasing the baseline floor of the mass spectrum reading and, ultimately, compromising the high sensitivity of the instrument. Furthermore, venting requires the ionization filament of the mass spectrometer to be turned off, which is harmful and undesirable for multiple reasons. First, frequent power cycles of the filament shorten its lifetime. Second, degassing occurs each time the filament is turned on, deteriorating the vacuum level and wasting time. Third, the electron emission requires a few hours to stabilize each time the filament is powered up. Finally, pumping down a new chip via the main chamber would take too long to obtain proper chip evacuation.

Stability and control of these parameters are essential to enable reproducible and quantifiable EC-MS results. Our system avoids all this, ensuring fast and reliable operation and an extended lifetime. It also avoids the need for bake out, enabling rapid and reproducible chip and sample exchange without ever venting the chamber.