the lighter ions. Detectors in modern time-of-flight instruments have improved sensitivity, temporal and spatial resolution, and lifetimes. Hi mass bipolar (high mass ion detection), Gen 2 Ultra Fast (twice as fast as traditional detectors), and High temperature (operated up to 150 °C) TOF are just a few of the commercially available detectors integrated with time-of-flight instruments. Linear and reflectron-TOF are the more common instruments used. Ionization detector A third type of detector is the gas ionization detector. The gas ionization detectors have some advantages over silicon detectors, for example, they are completely impervious to beam damage, since the gas can be replenished continuously. Nuclear experiments with large area ionization chambers increase the particle and position resolution have been used for many years and can easily be assimilated to any specific geometry. The limiting factor on energy resolution using this type of detector is the entrance window, which needs to be strong enough to withstand the atmospheric pressure of the gas, 20-90 mbar. Ultra-thin silicon nitride windows have been introduced, together with dramatic simplifications in the design, which have been demonstrated to be nearly as good as more complex designs for low energy ERD. These detectors have also been implemented in heavy ion Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry. Figure 7 shows the Gas Ionization chamber with Isobutane as the detector gas. The energy resolution obtained from this detector is better than a silicon detector when using ion beams heavier than helium ions. There are various designs of ionization detectors but a general schematic of the detector consists of a transversal field ionization chamber with a Frisch grid positioned between anode and cathode electrodes. The anode is subdivided into two plates separated by a specific distance. From the anode, signals ∆E(energy lost), Erest(residual energy after loss), and Etot (the total energy Etot= ΔΕ+Erest) as well as the atomic number Z can be deduced. For this specific design, the gas used was isobutane at pressures of 20-90 mbar with a flow rate that was electronically controlled, the previous figure. A polypropylene foil was used as the entrance window. It has to be noted that the foil thickness homogeneity is of more importance for the detector energy resolution than the absolute thickness. If heavy ions are used and detected, the effect of energy loss straggling will be easily surpassed by the energy loss variation, which is a direct consequence of different foil thicknesses. The cathode electrode