Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of detecting charged particles, comprisingguiding said charged particles toward first and second electrodes;biasing said first and second electrodes, at potentials with said first electrode biased to attract positive ones of said charged particles, and said second electrode biased to attract negatively charged ones of said charged particles;wherein said first and second electrodes each emit secondary electrons in response to collisions by ones of said charged particles;attracting said secondary electrons to an inlet of an electron multiplier, biased to attract secondary electrons from both said first and second electrodes and causing said electron multiplier to emit electrons in response thereto; anddetecting said electrons emitted by said electron multiplier, at a detection surface biased at a potential above said first and second electrodes, to detect said electrons emitted by said electron multiplier, and thereby said charged particles. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said biasing said second electrode comprises applying a bias voltage of between about +1 kV to +10 kV. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said biasing said first electrode comprises applying a bias voltage of between about −1 kV to −10 kV. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein a voltage of about 0.1 kV and 1 kV are applied to said detection surface. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising heating at least one of said first and second electrodes to a temperature between about 200° C. and 800° C. 6. An ion detector, comprisinga first electrode that emits secondary electrons when collided by a negatively charged ion;a second electrode that emits secondary electrons when collided by a positively charged ion;an electron detector for detecting emitted secondary electrons, said electron detector comprising an electron multiplier having an inlet biased to attract said secondary electrons emitted by either of said first and second electrodes in response to collisions with negatively and positively charged ions, and a detection surface to detect said secondary electrons emitted by either said first and second electrode, and attracted by said inlet;and at least one voltage source to bias said first electrode at a potential above ground, said second electrode at a potential below ground, and said detection surface of said detector at a potential above said first electrode. 7. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said electron multiplier emits tertiary electrons in response to said secondary electrons, and wherein said detection surface detects said tertiary electrons. 8. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said first electrode is formed of one of metal and semi-conductor material. 9. The ion detector of claim 8, wherein said second electrode is formed of one of metal and semi-conductor material. 10. The detector of claim 6, wherein said first electrode is formed of stainless steel. 11. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said electron detector comprises a channel electron multiplier. 12. The ion detector of claim 11, wherein said channel electron multiplier comprises a ceramic channel. 13. The ion detector of claim 11, wherein said electron multiplier comprises a glass channel. 14. The ion detector of claim 11, wherein said channel electron multiplier has an exit proximate said detection surface and wherein said channel electron multiplier proximate said inlet is biased at a lower potential than said channel electron multiplier proximate said exit. 15. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said electron multiplier comprises a discrete dynode electron multiplier. 16. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said detection surface comprises a photo-emissive surface. 17. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said first electrode is biased at a voltage between about +1 kV to +10 kV. 18. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said second electrode is biased at a voltage between about −1 kV to −10 kV. 19. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said detection surface is biased at least 100 volts above said first electrode. 20. The detector of claim 6, wherein said electron multiplier comprises a multi-channel plate multiplier. 21. The ion detector of claim 7, wherein said first and second electrodes each comprise an emission surface, and wherein emission surfaces lie in a plane at an angle of between 45 and 60 degrees relative to an axis perpendicular to the plane of said inlet of said electron multiplier. 22. The ion detector of claim 7, wherein said first and second electrodes each comprise an emission surface, and wherein emission surfaces lie in a plane at an angle of between 30 and 90 degrees relative to an axis perpendicular to the plane of said inlet of said electron multiplier. 23. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said first electrode forms part of said electron multiplier. 24. The ion detector of claim 23, wherein said first electrode forms part of said inlet of said electron multiplier. 25. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein said electron detector comprises a pulse counting detector. 26. The ion detector of claim 6, wherein each of said first and second electrodes comprise non-planar emission surfaces for emitting said secondary electrons, in response to collisions with said emission surfaces. 27. A charged particle detector, comprisinga first conversion electrode that emits electrons when collided by a negatively charged particle;a second conversion electrode that emits electrons when collided by a positively charged particle;an electron multiplying detector for multiplying said emitted electrons, said multiplying detector having a detection surface, said electron multiplying detector having an inlet; andat least one voltage source to bias said first electrode at a potential above ground, said second electrode at a potential below ground, said inlet to attract said electrons emitted by both said first and second conversion electrodes, and said detection surface of said electron multiplier at a potential above said first and second electrodes. 28. A method of detecting charged particles, comprisingguiding said charged particles toward first and second collision surfaces;biasing said first and second collision surfaces, at potentials with said first collision surface biased to attract positive ones of said charged particles, and said second collision surface biased to attract negatively charged ones of said charged particles;wherein said first and second collision surfaces each emit secondary electrons in response to collisions by ones of said charged particles; anddetecting emission of said electrons by said collision surfaces at an electron detector comprising an inlet biased to attract said secondary electrons emitted by both said first and second collision surface to detect said charged particles. 29. A method of detecting charged particles, comprisingbiasing first and second collision surfaces, at first potentials with said first collision surface biased to attract positive ones of said charged particles, and said second collision surface biased to attract negatively charged ones of said charged particles;wherein said first and second collision surfaces each emit secondary electrons in response to collisions by ones of said charged particles; andguiding charged particles of a single first polarity toward first and second collision surfaces;detecting emission of said electrons by said collision surfaces at an electron detector to detect said charged particles of said first polarity;after said detecting, guiding charged particles of a second, opposite, polarity toward first and second collision surfaces;detecting emission of said electrons by said collision surfaces at said electron detector to detect said charged particles of said second polaritywherein said electron detector comprises an inlet biased to attract said secondary electrons emitted by both said first and second collision surfaces. 30. The method of claim 29 further comprising biasing first and second collision surfaces, at second potentials respectively above and below said first fixed potentials, after said guiding said charged particles of a single first polarity, and before said guiding charged particles of a second, opposite, polarity. 31. An ion detector, comprisingan electrode that emits secondary electrons when collided by positively charged ions;an electron detector for detecting emitted secondary electrons and negative ions, said electron detector having a detection surface, and an inlet, said inlet configured to attract negative ions, and electrons emitted by said electrode; andat least one voltage source to bias said electrode at a potential below ground, said inlet at a potential above said electrode, and said detection surface of said detector at a potential above said inlet.