Devices and methods of generating resonance excitation for an ion manipulation apparatus are provided. The ion manipulation apparatus can be operated as an ion filtration apparatus used with particle mass spectrometry system. The devices and methods can be capable of generating a resonance excitation to effect an ion filtration in a multipole apparatus. The resonance excitation is generated by mixing a radio frequency signal with a plurality of alternative current voltage signals having different frequencies. The resonance excitation can be added to at least one electrode of the multipole apparatus. The generation of mixed alternative current voltage signal is performed in a time domain, therefore no time-consuming inverse Fourier transform procedure is needed, which significantly improves an analysis speed and a throughput of the particle mass spectrometry system.

A mass spectrometer may have an ion source region including an ion generator configured to generate ions from a sample, an ion detector configured to detect ions and produce corresponding ion detection signals, an electric field-free drift region disposed between the ion source region and the ion detector through which the generated ions drift axially toward the ion detector, a plurality of spaced-apart charge detection cylinders disposed in the drift region and through which the ions drifting axially through the drift region pass, and a plurality of charge amplifiers each coupled to a different one of the plurality of charge detection cylinders and each configured to produce a charge detection signal corresponding to a magnitude of charge of one or more of the generated ions passing through a respective one of the plurality of charge detection cylinders.

A secondary ion mass spectrometer comprising a primary ion beam device, and means for collecting, mass filtering and subsequently detecting secondary ions released from a sample due to the sample having been impacted by a plurality of primary ion beams. The secondary ion mass spectrometer is remarkable in that it uses a plurality of primary ion beams in parallel for scanning the surface of the sample.

An ion guide includes electrodes elongated along an axis from an entrance end to an exit end and spaced around the axis to surround an interior. The electrodes have polygonal shapes with inside surfaces disposed at a radius from the axis and having an electrode width tangential to a circle inscribed by the electrodes. An aspect ratio of the electrode width to the radius varies along the axis. The electrodes are configured to generate a two-dimensional RF electrical field in the interior having a multipole composition comprising one or more lower-order multipole components and one or more higher-order multipole components and varying along the axis in accordance with the varying aspect ratio, and having an RF voltage amplitude that varies along the axis.

An ion guide includes electrodes elongated along an axis from an entrance end to an exit end and spaced around the axis to surround an interior. The electrodes have polygonal shapes with inside surfaces disposed at a radius from the axis and having an electrode width tangential to a circle inscribed by the electrodes. An aspect ratio of the electrode width to the radius varies along the axis. The electrodes are configured to generate a two-dimensional RF electrical field in the interior having a multipole composition comprising one or more lower-order multipole components and one or more higher-order multipole components and varying along the axis in accordance with the varying aspect ratio, and having an RF voltage amplitude that varies along the axis.

An ion analyzer includes an ion optical element having four rod electrodes around an optical axis, for transferring ions from their surrounding space to the subsequent stage while converging the ions. To create an RF electric field within this space, a voltage supplier applies RF voltages of opposite polarities to two pairs of electrodes facing each other across the axis. The cross-sectional shape of each electrode in a plane orthogonal to the axis has a first side having width w facing the axis and is tangent to a circle of radius r.sub.0 around the axis, and two adjacent sides connected to the ends of the first side at an angle determined so that an RF field created by the adjacent sides exerts no influence within the space. The ratio w/r.sub.0 is determined so that the amount of dodecapole field component becomes a predetermined value or does not exceed it.

The present disclosure relates to a device for filtering at least one selected ion from an ion beam includes a unit for creating an electric field for accelerating the ions of the ion beam along a flight path of predefinable length, and a controllable ion optical system, which delimits the flight path in one direction, and which is used to deflect the selected ion from a flight path of the ion beam. The device is further designed to control the ion optical system subject to a flight time of the selected ion along the flight path. The present disclosure also relates to a mass spectrometer having a device according to the present disclosure, and to a method for filtering at least one selected ion from an ion beam.

Systems for analyzing a biological sample include a separation unit configured to separate a component from the biological sample, an ionization unit configured to generate a plurality of ions from the component, an adjustable mass-selective filtering element, a detector configured to detect ions that pass through the mass-selective filtering element, and a controller connected to the mass-selective filtering element and to the detector, where the controller is configured so that during operation of the system, the controller adjusts the mass-selective filtering element and activates the detector to measure at least three different ion signals corresponding to the plurality of ions, and determines a mass axis shift of the system based on the at least three different ion signals.

A residual gas analyser (40) for analysis of a residual gas (30), in particular a residual gas in an EUV lithography system (1), includes an inlet system (41) for admission of the residual gas from a vacuum environment (27a) into the residual gas analyser, and a mass analyser (43) having a detector (44) for detecting ionized constituents (30a) of the residual gas. The residual gas analyser includes an ion transfer device (42) for transferring the ionized constituents of the residual gas to the mass analyser, the ion transfer device having an ion filtering device (45) configured for filtering at least one ionic constituent (30a) of the residual gas. Also disclosed is an EUV lithography system, in particular an EUV lithography apparatus, which includes at least one residual gas analyser configured as indicated above for analysing a residual gas in a vacuum environment of the EUV lithography system.

A method for multiple transition monitoring of at least one analyte in a sample using a quadrupole mass analyzer is provided and comprises at least one voltage application step, wherein a direct current (DC) voltage and a radio frequency (AC) voltage are applied between two pairs of electrodes of at least one mass filter of the analyzer, wherein the AC voltage has an amplitude V.sub.AC and the DC voltage has an applicable voltage V.sub.DC, wherein a supplementary AC voltage is superimposed on top of the AC and the DC voltage, wherein an amplitude ΔV.sub.DC of the supplementary AC voltage is

[00001]$\le \frac{V_{\mathrm{DC},\max }}{2^{b+1}},$

wherein V.sub.DC,max is a maximum voltage output of the DC voltage and b is a bit size of at least one electronics board of the mass filter of the analyzer; and wherein at least one transition of the analyte is determined with at least one detector of the analyzer.