Abstract
One of the main challenges to overcome to perform nanomechanical mass spectrometry analysis in a practical time frame stems from the size mismatch between the analyte beam and the small nanomechanical detector area. We report here the demonstration of mass spectrometry with arrays of 20 multiplexed nanomechanical resonators; each resonator is designed with a distinct resonance frequency which becomes its individual address. Mass spectra of metallic aggregates in the MDa range are acquired with more than one order of magnitude improvement in analysis time compared to individual resonators. A 20 NEMS array is probed in 150 ms with the same mass limit of detection as a single resonator. Spectra acquired with a conventional time-of-flight mass spectrometer in the same system show excellent agreement. We also demonstrate how mass spectrometry imaging at the single-particle level becomes possible by mapping a 4-cm-particle beam in the MDa range and above.
Highlights
One of the main challenges to overcome to perform Nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS)-Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis in a practical time frame stems from the size mismatch between the analyte beam and the nanomechanical detector area[13,14]
Gas molecules adsorb homogeneously onto the surface of all NEMS within the array, which operate collectively and simultaneously. This is not suitable for NEMS-MS, as information about each single device is lost in the collective operation of the array: a single particle would shift the frequency of only one device, and this information would be averaged over the whole array
In the case of additive white noise, we could expect a factor 20 between the two first cases. We attribute this discrepancy to the presence of resonance frequency fluctuations in the mechanical domain: we have recently shown that the frequency stability of similar silicon single resonators is limited by frequency fluctuations rather than additive white noise[17], more than two orders of magnitude above what is expected from Eq
Summary
One of the main challenges to overcome to perform nanomechanical mass spectrometry analysis in a practical time frame stems from the size mismatch between the analyte beam and the small nanomechanical detector area. Routine use of MS in the MDa (~1.66 ag, 1 ag = 10−21kg) to GDa (~1.66 fg, 1 fg = 10−18kg) range remains challenging: while currently out of reach for commercial instruments, a few specialized systems have shown the ability to study supramolecular assemblies in the one to tens of MDa mass range[7,8] In this mass range, interesting results have been recently obtained with unconventional MS architectures like charge detection systems[9,10] based on ionization of species. One of the main challenges to overcome to perform NEMS-MS analysis in a practical time frame stems from the size mismatch between the analyte beam and the nanomechanical detector area[13,14]. NEMS within an array operate in multi-mode[6] and retain the same mass resolution as a single resonator Using such an array, mass spectra of metallic aggregates have been acquired with excellent speed due to a significantly enhanced capture cross-section compared to individual resonators. As individual information for each resonator within the array is retained, we demonstrate spatial imaging of a particle beam at the singleparticle level
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