Résumé
This paper reports on simple, efficient and economical methods to increase MALDI image resolution. It is not currently possible to focus the diameter of a MALDI laser down to 50x50µm², i.e. 2500µm², without decreasing signal intensity. But using Silicon masks openings features, it might even be decreased to about 15x50µm², i.e. 750µm². Furthermore, the presence of a mask on the tissue section sample may result in a significant increase in the signal intensity for high m/z ratios. Finally, a huge advantage of the masks is their ease of adaptability on any MALDI mass spectrometer.