Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry with fast and intelligent Pixel detectors

We report on 'proof of concept' experiments in Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) using an ultra-fast frame-transfer CCD camera and also describe an intelligent CMOS sensor which is being developed for this application by the PImMS collaboration in the UK. PImMS is a combination of traditional TOF mass spectrometry and ion imaging. Information provided by the ion imaging gives access to valuable structural information of the molecule under investigation, in addition to the normal mass spectrum. Recording of the 2D spatial information of the arriving ions allows to reconstruct the ion velocity distributions for separate ion masses and to correlate them to each other. The new PImMS sensor will be capable of time stamping up to four arriving ions per pixel during the 200 mu sec acquisition cycle with 100 nsec resolution which should meet the demanding requirements of complete recording of mass spectra of complex organic molecules.