VARIATION OF RELATIVE ION ABUNDANCES WITH ACCELERATOR POTENTIAL IN MASS SPECTROMETER - IMPORTANCE OF SOURCE PENETRATION

Calculations have been carried out, using the Quasi‐Equilibrium Theory of Mass Spectra to show that a decrease in penetration of the accelerating field intol the ion source of a mass spectrometer may significantly increase the number of primary daughter ions [A]+ produced from a molecular ion [M]+ in the source. The calculations show that this effect appears to be more important than the decay of [M]+ between source and collector in implementing an increase in [A]+/[M]+ at the collector with decreasing accelerator potential. Copyright © 1969 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.