Characterisation, performance and stability of a glow discharge as a source of electrons for portable mass spectrometry
1 : LISA EA 4672
Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I
2 : Dpt Elec Eng & Electronics University of Liverpool
* : Corresponding author
A DC glow discharge with a continuous inlet flow from ambient air is used as a source of electrons to ionise molecules by electron impact in a portable ion trap mass spectrometer. The electron current available for ionisation is measured at some hundreds of nA and the electron kinetic energy distribution is uniform between 0 and 10 eV.
