Patent ID: 8735808

Claim:
A method of mass spectrometry comprising: providing a Time of Flight mass analyser comprising an electrode for accelerating ions into a time of flight region and an ion detector arranged to detect ions after said ions have passed through said time of flight region; digitising a first signal output from said ion detector to produce a first digitised signal; de-convoluting said first digitised signal and determining one or more first ion arrival times and one or more first ion arrival intensities associated with said first digitised signal; digitising a second signal output from said ion detector to produce a second digitised signal; de-convoluting said second digitised signal and determining one or more second ion arrival times and one or more second ion arrival intensities associated with said second digitised signal; digitising third and further signals output from said ion detector to produce third and further digitised signals; de-convoluting said third and further digitised signals and determining one or more third and further ion arrival times and one or more third and further ion arrival intensities associated with said third and further digitised signals; and combining said one or more first ion arrival times, said one or more second ion arrival times and said one or more third and further ion arrival times and combining said one or more first ion arrival intensities, said one or more second ion arrival intensities and said one or more third and further ion arrival intensities to produce a combined ion arrival time-intensity spectrum, wherein said step of digitising said first signal output from said ion detector, said step of digitising said second signal output from said ion detector and said step of digitising said third and further signals output from said ion detector comprise using an Analogue to Digital Converter to digitise said first signal, said second signal and said third and further signals, and wherein said step of de-convoluting said first digitised signal, said step of de-convoluting said second digitised signal and said step of de-convoluting said third and further digitised signals comprise either: (i) determining a point spread function characteristic of a single ion arriving at and being detected by said ion detector; or (ii) using a pre-determined point spread function characteristic of a single ion arriving at and being detected by said ion detector.