ABSTRACT
By the mid-1990s ion trap mass spectrometers had become widely accepted in the mass spectrometry market due, in large part, to their inherent high sensitivity, capability of MSn experiments, simplicity of construction, and lower instrument costs. By this era, many of the early limitations of ion traps had been overcome. Mass range had been extended well beyond the m/z 650 limit of the rst Finnigan ITD systems, and demonstrations of m/z-range well beyond 100,000 Th had been shown. Concurrently, mass resolution had been improved and commercial instruments delivered routinely mass resolutions in excess of 100,000 (albeit only over short mass ranges). Other types of mass analyzers had higher performance in terms of mass accuracy and quantitation, but ion traps had improved dramatically in these areas.
