A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is employed to determine the desorption yield of neutral particles in matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization. For ferulic acid, the matrix substance used, the QCM mass resolution of 1 ng corresponds to a detection limit of ≈︁10 12 particles. Sample exposure effects are studied at different fluences by measuring the total desorption yield after consecutive laser pulses fired on the same spot on the sample. The dependence of the total yield on the fluence is studied for different angles of incidence of the laser beam. Varying the distance between the QCM and the sample yields information about the angular spread of the desorbed neutral particles. Additional information about the fluence threshold for the production of charged particles is gained by direct electronic measurements of sample charging.
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Quist et al. (1994) studied this question.
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