Nu Instruments Launches SAPPHIRE, a New Collision / Reaction Cell Multi-Collector, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Contact: Paul Warburton 44 (0)1978 661304, paul.warburton@ametek.com

Nu Instruments Launches SAPPHIRE, a New Collision / Reaction Cell Multi-Collector, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer

SAPPHIRE Offers the Ideal Solution for Precise and Accurate Isotopic Analysis for a Wide Range of Applications.

WREXHAM, UK – Nu Instruments, a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance mass spectrometers, is pleased to announce the release of SAPPHIRE, a new collision / reaction cell multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS).

“The collision-cell capable instrument builds on Nu Instruments’ field-proven Multi-Collector ICP-MS platform (with over 170 installed instruments worldwide) adding unrivalled capabilities to that platform,” notes Dr Phillip Freedman, Nu Instruments Chief Technology Officer.

SAPPHIRE features a high-energy path that enables the instrument to be used as a traditional Multi-Collector ICP-MS with no compromise in performance, as well as a low-energy path in which the ion beam is directed through a hexapole collision cell for the removal of the ICP-induced molecular species that interfere directly with the atomic ions of the same nominal mass of some non-traditional isotopes.

Thanks to its unparalleled performance for measuring some of the most-challenging, non-traditional stable isotope systems, such as Mg, Si, S, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ni and Se, SAPPHIRE opens up a wealth of new applications for geochemistry, cosmochemistry and life sciences.

SAPPHIRE makes it possible to analyse these systems in low-resolution mode by removing the molecular species, without compromising the ion transmission, significantly reducing sample size requirements, and pushing the isotopic measurement precision and accuracy to the counting statistics level.

Nu Instruments continues to lead innovation in isotope ratio analysis, with SAPPHIREbringing additional capability to Multi-Collector ICP-MS, allowing the measurement of even more isotope systems by using this now well-established technique.

About Nu Instruments
Founded in 1995, Nu Instruments is a market leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance mass spectrometers and accessories. Nu Instruments has an established reputation for carefully designing the highest performance instruments that take the shortest time to install and offer a level of reliability that competitors find difficult to match.

Nu Instruments specializes in satisfying and exceeding the requirements of the mass spectrometry community, providing instruments for specialist applications using specialist techniques, including Multi-Collector ICP-MS (MC-ICP-MS), High-Resolution ICP-MS (HR-ICP-MS), Glow-Discharge MS (GD-MS), Stable-Isotope MS (SIRMS), Noble-Gas MS, and Thermal-Ionisation MS TIMS). All instrument production, from conception to delivery, takes place at Nu Instruments’ facility in Wrexham, UK.

In 2016 Nu Instruments became a part of CAMECA, which has more than 60 years of experience in the design, manufacture and servicing of scientific instruments for material micro- and nano analysis.

Since pioneering Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) instrumentation in the 1950s and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) in the 1960s, CAMECA has remained the undisputed world leader, while achieving numerous breakthrough innovations in such complementary techniques as Low-energy Electron-induced X-ray Emission Spectrometry (LEXES) and Atom Probe Tomography (APT).

Headquartered near Paris, CAMECA also has a production facility in Madison WI, USA, and further locations in Brazil, China, England, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and Taiwan.

CAMECA is a business unit of the Materials Analysis Division of AMETEK, Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical products.