Analyses of gas composition in vacuum systems by mass spectrometry

Analyses of the composition of residual gases for diagnostic purposes, analyses of the atmosphere enforced by the introduction of gases for technological purposes and analyses of gases released from analyte materials in numerous analytical methods (e.g. TSD, SIMS) are frequently carried out in vacuum systems. There is only a small amount of gas available, in the vacuum system so the most important property of a mass spectrometer is high sensitivity. As a consequence, the mass resolution is usually low. Moreover, a low outgassing rate of the mass spectrometer itself and all parts connecting it to the vacuum system is required. Dynamic mass spectrometry satisfies these demands best. Quadrupole mass spectrometers are almost solely utilized in applications, although the time-of-flight mass spectrometer has come into use recently. The main disadvantage of the quadrupole mass spectrometer is a strong dependence of the sensitivity and the mass discrimination factor on the stability of the supply voltages. Together with the necessity to use multipliers for detection of the ion current, this leads to a requirement for frequent recalibration. Another serious problem, that is met in such applications is the estimation of the gas composition from the measured mass spectra. Usually, the analyte gas mixtures consist of various individual gases, or at least are measured on a background of such mixtures. This implies a requirement for the exact knowledge of the fragmentation pattern of the gases, and again the necessity for frequent calibration over a satisfactorily wide range of mass numbers. Some theoretical considerations and some experimental results obtained by the authors are presented.