The current state of time-of-flight mass spectrometry devices

The current state, main design features and some applications of time-of-flight mass spectrometry are considered. Given are essential stages of development of analytical characteristics of main types of analyzers: linear and reflecting analyzers with the orthogonal ion beam extraction. Advantages of these analyzers as compared to other analytical devices are discussed, in particular, the feasibility of their combination with ion sources with continuous ion extraction.