Ion guide
AssigneeThermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
InventorsHamish STEWART, Alexander WAGNER, Alexander A. MAKAROV
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Abstract
An ion guide may comprise a set of plate electrodes, each plate electrode having a plurality of apertures formed therethrough. The set of plate electrodes are spatially arranged such that a relative positioning of each plurality of apertures of a respective plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes and respective adjacent plate electrodes of the set of plate electrodes defines a continuous ion flight path through the respective plurality of apertures of each plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes. The continuous ion flight path has a helical-based and/or spiral-based shape.
Claims46
An ion guide, comprising:
- a set of plate electrodes, each plate electrode having a plurality of apertures formed therethrough, the set of plate electrodes being spatially arranged such that a relative positioning of each plurality of apertures of a respective plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes and respective adjacent plate electrodes of the set of plate electrodes defines a continuous ion flight path through the respective plurality of apertures of each plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes, the continuous ion flight path having a helical-based and/or spiral-based shape.
An ion guide, comprising:
- a first plurality of electrode arrangements, each electrode arrangement comprising respective parallel bar electrodes, with a respective gap therebetween;
- and
- a second plurality of electrode arrangements, each electrode arrangement comprising respective parallel electrode parts, with a respective gap therebetween, the parallel electrode parts of the second plurality of electrode arrangements being arranged orthogonally with respect to the parallel bar electrodes of the first plurality of electrode arrangements, such that the respective gaps of the first plurality of electrode arrangements are aligned with the respective gaps of the second plurality of electrode arrangements to allow ions to travel therethrough along a continuous path;
- wherein the first and second pluralities of electrode arrangements are arranged alternately along the continuous path;
- and
- wherein each of the first plurality of electrode arrangements is provided with an RF potential and each of the second plurality of electrode arrangements is provided only with one or more DC potentials or wherein each of the first plurality of electrode arrangements is provided with only one or more DC potentials and each of the second plurality of electrode arrangements is provided with an RF potential.
An ion guide comprising a plurality of electrodes, each electrode comprising at least one aperture, so as to define an ion flight path having at least one curve, wherein:
- an aperture of a first electrode of the plurality of electrodes is adjacent to an aperture of a second electrode of the plurality of electrodes along the ion flight path;
- and
- the aperture of the second electrode has a shape, electrical potential, and/or position different from that of the aperture of the first electrode so as to cause ions travelling along the ion flight path to shift in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the ion flight path, such that the ions travel along different parts of the at least one curve of the ion flight path, thereby mitigating path length difference effects.
An ion mobility spectrometer, comprising a drift tube for separating ions according to their respective mobilities in a drift gas, the drift tube including an ion guide having a set of plate electrodes, each plate electrode having a plurality of apertures formed therethrough, the set of plate electrodes being spatially arranged such that a relative positioning of each plurality of apertures of a respective plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes and respective adjacent plate electrodes of the set of plate electrodes defines a continuous ion flight path through the respective plurality of apertures of each plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes, the continuous ion flight path having a helical-based and/or spiral-based shape.
A mass spectrometer, comprising:
- an ion guide including a set of plate electrodes, each plate electrode having a plurality of apertures formed therethrough, the set of plate electrodes being spatially arranged such that a relative positioning of each plurality of apertures of a respective plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes and respective adjacent plate electrodes of the set of plate electrodes defines a continuous ion flight path through the respective plurality of apertures of each plate electrode of the set of plate electrodes, the continuous ion flight path having a helical-based and/or spiral-based shape, the ion guide being claim, arranged to receive ions from an upstream ion source or ion optical device and to cause the received ions to travel along the ion flight path;
- and
- a mass analyser, configured to receive ions that have travelled through the ion guide along the ion flight path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.