A multichannel array detector for mass spectroscopy with a novel configuration is proposed. A triple conversion approach is used whereby incident ions are used to generate secondary electrons which strike a scintillator which produces optical photons. The photons are detected with an imaging charge coupled device (COD) operated in a cooled, slow scan mode to reduce readout noise. The proposed detector is expected to have far greater dynamic range and spatial resolution that the conventional microchannel plate intensifier and photodiode array detector configuration. The added dynamic range will allow this detector to be used in applications where high dynamic range signals are encountered, such as gas chromatography - mass spectroscopy (GC/MS). The higher spatial resolution will permit detection of a wider mass window for a given physical detector size and spectrometer focal plane size.
