TY - JOUR

T1 - A Simple Printed Circuit Board–Based Ion Funnel for Focusing Low m/z Ratio Ions with High Kinetic Energies at Elevated Pressure

AU - Schlottmann, Florian

AU - Allers, Maria

AU - Kirk, Ansgar T.

AU - Bohnhorst, Alexander

AU - Zimmermann, Stefan

N1 - Funding information: This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – ZI 1288/8-1.

PY - 2019/9/1

Y1 - 2019/9/1

N2 - Ion funnels are one of the key components for transferring ions from higher pressure into the vacuum. Typically, ion funnels are constructed of several different plate ring electrodes with a decreasing inner diameter where radio frequency (RF) voltages and electric DC fields are applied to the electrodes to focus and transport ion clouds. In this work, we developed and investigated a simple and low-cost ion funnel design that is based on standard printed circuit boards (PCB) with integrated planar electrodes including the signal distribution network. This ion funnel is capable of withstanding high electric fields with superimposed RF voltages due to its buried capacitors. To evaluate the ion focusing efficiency of the ion funnel, we simulated the movement of ions inside this funnel and experimentally evaluated the ion transfer. Our simulations show that a rectangular ion funnel like the PCB ion funnel has similar performance compared with conventional stacked ring funnels. Due to the hundredfold lower parasitic capacitance between the planar electrodes compared with conventional ion funnels, high RF voltage amplitudes up to 195 V and reduced electric DC field strengths up to 100 Td can be reached at a frequency of about 5 MHz. Thus, the funnel is appropriate to focus light ions at elevated pressures up to 20 mbar.

AB - Ion funnels are one of the key components for transferring ions from higher pressure into the vacuum. Typically, ion funnels are constructed of several different plate ring electrodes with a decreasing inner diameter where radio frequency (RF) voltages and electric DC fields are applied to the electrodes to focus and transport ion clouds. In this work, we developed and investigated a simple and low-cost ion funnel design that is based on standard printed circuit boards (PCB) with integrated planar electrodes including the signal distribution network. This ion funnel is capable of withstanding high electric fields with superimposed RF voltages due to its buried capacitors. To evaluate the ion focusing efficiency of the ion funnel, we simulated the movement of ions inside this funnel and experimentally evaluated the ion transfer. Our simulations show that a rectangular ion funnel like the PCB ion funnel has similar performance compared with conventional stacked ring funnels. Due to the hundredfold lower parasitic capacitance between the planar electrodes compared with conventional ion funnels, high RF voltage amplitudes up to 195 V and reduced electric DC field strengths up to 100 Td can be reached at a frequency of about 5 MHz. Thus, the funnel is appropriate to focus light ions at elevated pressures up to 20 mbar.

KW - Electrodynamic ion funnel

KW - Low m/z ratio

KW - Low parasitic capacitance

KW - Printed circuit board

KW - Rectangular ion funnel

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066490724&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.15488/10988

DO - 10.15488/10988

M3 - Article

C2 - 31140080

AN - SCOPUS:85066490724

VL - 30

SP - 1813

EP - 1823

JO - Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry

JF - Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry

SN - 1044-0305

IS - 9

ER -