Microsaic Systems Ltd., Woking, Surrey, UK.
Anal Chem. 2010 Mar 1;82(5):1751-8. doi: 10.1021/ac902349k.
Two miniature mass spectrometer systems based on a microengineered quadrupole mass filter have been developed. One of the instruments has a footprint of 27 cm x 20 cm and is intended for laboratory use when space is at a premium. The other is portable and intended for use in the field. It is battery powered, weighs 14.9 kg, and is housed in a rugged case. This is the first example of a portable mass spectrometer incorporating an analyzer fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques. The starting material for construction of the filters is a bonded silicon on insulator substrate, which is selectively etched using batch processing techniques to form coupling optics and springs that accurately hold 0.5 mm diameter stainless steel rods in the required geometry. Assembled filters measure 35 mm x 6 mm x 1.5 mm and are mounted, together with an ion source and channeltron detector, in small, interchangeable cartridges, which plug into a 220 cm(3) vacuum chamber. Recovery from accidental contamination or when servicing is required can be achieved within 5-10 min, as the cartridge is easily exchanged with a spare. A potential application to environmental monitoring has been investigated. The headspace above water spiked with dibutyl mercaptan was sampled with a solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber, which was then injected directly into the vacuum chamber of the mass spectrometer. Using this method, the limit of detection was found to be approximately 5 ppm for a 15 s sampling period.
已经开发出了两种基于微机械四极质量过滤器的微型质谱仪系统。其中一种仪器的占地面积为 27 厘米 x 20 厘米，当空间有限时，它旨在用于实验室使用。另一种是便携式的，旨在在现场使用。它由电池供电，重 14.9 公斤，装在坚固的外壳中。这是第一个采用微机电系统 (MEMS) 技术制造的分析器的便携式质谱仪的例子。过滤器的制造材料是键合的绝缘体上硅基底，使用批处理技术对其进行选择性蚀刻，以形成耦合光学器件和弹簧，这些光学器件和弹簧以所需的几何形状精确地保持 0.5 毫米直径的不锈钢棒。组装好的过滤器尺寸为 35 毫米 x 6 毫米 x 1.5 毫米，并与离子源和通道电子倍增管检测器一起安装在小型可互换的盒中，这些盒插入到 220 立方厘米的真空室中。由于可以轻松地用备用盒更换，因此可以在 5-10 分钟内从意外污染或需要维护的情况下恢复。已经研究了一种潜在的环境监测应用。用固相微萃取 (SPME) 纤维采集了水中加有二丁基硫醇的顶空样本，然后直接将其注入质谱仪的真空室中。使用这种方法，发现对于 15 秒的采样周期，检测限约为 5 ppm。
