Operation and application of a new time-of-flight e-gas secondary neutral mass spectrometer (ToF–SNMS)

The low-pressure rf plasma of a secondary neutral mass spectrometer (e-gas SNMS) was connected with a time-of-flight (ToF) mass spectrometer for the first time. As opposed to ToF–SIMS in e-gas SNMS, the primary ion pulse cannot be used for triggering the flight time measurement. Therefore, an extraction pulse is used which at a defined time loads an ion package from the beam of the post-ionised particles into the ToF spectrometer. The newly developed ToF–SNMS system is described, and first experimental results are presented.