Currently available quadrupoles are designed to detect the presence of elemental or low-mass compound materials and consequently do not enable the measurement and filtering of mesoscopic particles.
group at Leicester University. It has been specifically designed for the purpose of high-resolution measurement and filtering of nanoclusters between 50 and 3 x 106 a.m.u.
The instrument is compatible with the NC200U nanocluster source for a large number of materials. The standard QMF200 is mounted to the exit flange of for the NC200U source so that it can be used for mass measurement and selection of the clusters produced by the source. It includes ion steering plates on the exit aperture to steer the mass selected clusters off axis to the neutral beam. Alternatively the quadrupole can be positioned behind the sample in the deposition system to allow the high deposition rates from the source to be utilised. It can also be tailored to suit home-made nanocluster deposition systems.
The user-friendly electronics unit allows control either from the front panel or from a PC equipped with the optional software package.
