Resolution of time‐of‐flight mass spectrometers evaluated for secondary neutral mass spectrometry

Mass resolution of a time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer with a two‐stage electrostatic reflector is calculated for secondary neutral mass spectrometry. The instrument parameters are optimized for energy and space focusing: correcting the flight time difference due to the energy width ΔE of sputtered particles and the spatial width Δs of an ionizing laser beam. The effect of Δs can be compensated by applying an acceleration field to the ionizing region, and the maximum resolution becomes about 1000 for ΔE=10 eV and Δs=1.0 mm.