Instrument: Mass Spectrometer
General term for instruments used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions; generally used to find the composition of a sample by generating a mass spectrum representing the masses of sample components.
Three cells of T. pseudonana were analyzed for relative elemental contents at nanometer scale resolution using Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS). Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) is a surface analysis technique that provides information about the lateral distribution of any element and its isotopes, and quantitative information about the isotopic composition of a sample. NanoSIMS allows for elemental and isotopic analysis down to the 50-nanomenter scale.