Neutral particle mass spectrometry with nanomechanical systems.

Current approaches to mass spectrometry (MS) require ionization of the analytes of interest. For high-mass species, the resulting charge state distribution can be complex and difficult to interpret correctly. Here, using a setup comprising both conventional time-of-flight MS (TOF-MS) and nano-electromechanical systems-based MS (NEMS-MS) in situ, we show directly that NEMS-MS analysis is insensitive to charge state: the spectrum consists of a single peak whatever the species' charge state, making it significantly clearer than existing MS analysis.