OrbiSIMS – simultaneous high-mass resolving power and high-spatial resolution mass spectrometry imaging for biological and advanced materials characterisation

NPL pioneered the next generation OrbiSIMS technology introduced in detail in Nature Methods (2017, PMID: 29131162). The instrument is equipped with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ToF) for high-speed imaging of large areas or in 3D. It is also equipped with a high-field Orbitrap mass spectrometer with a mass resolving power of >240,000 at m/z 200 and a mass accuracy of approximately 1 ppm. Both ToF and Orbitrap analysers can be used simultaneously or separately. The OrbiSIMS shall be able to carry out cryogenic analysis under ultra-high vacuum with sample holder temperatures below –150 oC.