Thermo Finnigan LLC

Jean Jacques Dunyach

Eloy R Wouters

Michael William Belford

Maurizio Splendore

Paul R Atherton

R Paul Atherton

Alexander Alekseevich Makarov

Michael W Senko

Satendra Prasad

Viatcheslav V Kovtoun

Randy W Purves

Christopher Mullen

August A Specht

William Siebert

A method for transmitting ions entrained in a flowing carrier gas into and through a gap defined by a pair of mutually facing curved electrodes comprises: inputting the ions and flowing gas into the gap through an ion inlet orifice of a first one of the pair of electrodes, the ion inlet orifice comprising an orifice wall, an orifice inlet end and an orifice outlet end, the orifice wall being smoothly convexly curved between the inlet end and the outlet end, wherein a width of the gap and a flow rate of the carrier gas through the ion inlet orifice and gap are such that the gas flow is laminar within the ion inlet orifice and gap.

Method for transmitting ions and carrier gas between mutually facing curved electrodes

An ion transfer tube for a mass spectrometer comprises a core member and a first jacket tube member at least partially enclosing the core member and providing one or more channels therethrough. A method of forming an ion transfer tube, comprises: providing a first jacket tube member having a length and an internal bore, the internal bore passing along the length and defining an interior surface of circular cross section; removing at least one portion of the first jacket tube member adjacent to the interior surface so as to form at least one groove, channel, slot, recess or embayment of or in the interior surface; and providing a core member within the bore of the jacket tube member such that remnant portions of the interior surface of circular cross section mate against portions of an exterior surface of the core member.

Ion transfer tube for a mass spectrometer system

A High Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) apparatus comprises (a) a first and a second gas inlet; (b) an expansion chamber receiving ions from an ion source and the first and second gas flows from the first and second gas inlets, respectively; (c) an outer electrode having a generally concave inner surface and comprising: (i) an ion inlet operable to receive, from the expansion chamber, the ions and a combined gas flow comprising portions of the first and second gas flows; and (ii) an ion outlet; and (d) an inner electrode having a generally convex outer surface that is disposed in a spaced-apart and facing arrangement relative to the inner surface of the outer electrode for defining an ion separation region therebetween, wherein the combined gas flow and a portion of the ions travel through the ion separation region from the ion inlet to the ion outlet.

Control of gas flow in high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry

A mass spectrometry system arrangement includes a curved ion guide, where the curve of the ion guide is positioned such that a portion of the ion optics are visible from at the ion guide entrance, e.g. line of sight or z-axis. There are four electrodes parallel with each other and the central curved axis. Each electrode is equally radially spaced from the curved central axis. For each cross section of the ion guide, the central curved axis being positioned at the origin, the curved electrodes being radially positioned at 45&#xb0;, 135&#xb0;, 225&#xb0;, and 315&#xb0;. Depending upon the system, a blocking device is positioned external to the ion guide but within the 'line of sight' or positioned tangential to the rising section of the bent ion guide.

Ion guide with improved gas dynamics and combined noise reduction device

An ion transfer tube for a mass spectrometer comprises a tube member having an inlet end and an outlet end; and at least one bore extending through the tube member from the inlet end to the outlet end, the at least one bore having a non-circular cross section. A method of forming an ion transfer tube comprises the steps of providing a tube member having a length and an internal bore, the internal bore having a wall of circular cross section; and etching or eroding portions of the tube member adjacent to the wall so as to form an enlarged bore having a non-circular cross section.

Ion transfer tube having single or multiple elongate bore segments and mass spectrometer system

A method for analyzing a sample comprising the steps of: generating ions from the sample within an ionization chamber at substantially atmospheric pressure; entraining the ions in a background gas; transferring the background gas and entrained ions to an evacuated chamber of a mass spectrometer system using a single-piece capillary having an inlet end and an outlet end, wherein a portion of the capillary adjacent to the outlet end comprises an inner diameter that is greater than an inner diameter of an adjoining portion of the capillary; and analyzing the ions using a mass analyzer of the mass spectrometer system.

Method and apparatus for an ion transfer tube and mass spectrometer system using same

A device for improved transportation and focusing of ions in a low vacuum or atmospheric-pressure region of a mass spectrometer is constructed from one or more electro-dynamic or electrostatic focusing lenses that is/are coupled to the first electrode of a stacked ring ion guide (SRIG) to which oscillatory (e.g., radio-frequency) voltages are applied. Such configurations as disclosed herein, minimizes deleterious field effects and/or repositioning problems of desired ion transfer instruments that utilize such stacked ring ion guides by generally configuring the outlet end of the ion transfer device to a desired position within the electro-dynamic or electro-static focusing lens(es).

Electro-dynamic or electro-static lens coupled to a stacked ring ion guide

A combined rf-only/FAIMS apparatus is disclosed for use in mass spectrometry and other applications. The disclosed apparatus includes a plurality of curved electrodes arranged around a central ion transmission channel. FAIMS functionality is removed electronically when not desired by application of radio frequency (rf) waveforms to the curved electrodes.

Quadrupole FAIMS apparatus

A device for transporting and focusing ions in a low vacuum or atmospheric-pressure region of a mass spectrometer is constructed from a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart electrodes to which oscillatory (e.g., radio-frequency) voltages are applied. In order to create a tapered field that focuses ions to a narrow beam near the device exit, the inter-electrode spacing or the oscillatory voltage amplitude is increased in the direction of ion travel.

Ion transport device and modes of operation thereof

A FAIMS cell has an elongated inner electrode with a longitudinal axis extending along a first direction. The inner electrode has a curved outer surface that defines a circle when viewed in a cross section that is taken in a plane normal to the longitudinal axis, which itself passes through the center of the circle so defined. An outer electrode having an inner surface is disposed in a spaced-apart facing relationship relative to the outer surface of the inner electrode so as to define an analytical gap therebetween. A first ion inlet orifice is defined through a first portion of the outer electrode, and an ion outlet orifice is defined through a second portion of the outer electrode. In particular, the first ion inlet orifice has a first ion injection axis that does not pass through the center of the circle. Furthermore, the second electrode does not have defined through any portion thereof an ion inlet orifice having an ion injection axis that passes through the center of the circle.

FAIMS cell having an offset ion inlet orifice

A method for analyzing ions includes providing a desolvation chamber in communication with an analytical gap of a FAIMS analyzer, via an ion inlet orifice. A flow of ions is introduced into the desolvation chamber along a flow path that is toward the ion inlet orifice and into the analytical gap of the FAIMS analyzer. A flow of a desolvation gas is provided into the desolvation chamber via a first gas inlet, such that a portion of the flow of the desolvation gas is counter-current to the flow of ions. A flow of a carrier gas is provided separately via a second gas inlet, which is defined downstream relative to the desolvation chamber. In particular, the composition of the carrier gas is different than the composition of the desolvation gas. Accordingly, the flow of the carrier gas is provided substantially into the analytical gap for transporting ions along a path between the ion inlet orifice and an ion outlet orifice of the analytical gap.

FAIMS cell with separate desolvation and carrier gas inlets

A combined rf-only/FAIMS analyzer is disclosed for use in mass spectrometry and other applications. The disclosed apparatus includes a plurality of flat-plate electrodes arranged around a longitudinal axis of the apparatus so as to define generally a parallelogram in a cross section taken in a plane that is normal to the longitudinal axis. FAIMS is removed electronically when not desired by application of radio frequency (rf) waveforms to the flat-plate electrodes.

An ion source includes an ion transfer tube having two segments for transporting a sample fluid containing ions between a first chamber and a second chamber maintained at a reduced pressure relative to the first chamber. A first segment may include a plurality of channels and heat conductive walls forming the plurality of channels. The plurality of channels and walls forming the channels promote efficient convective heat transfer to the sample fluid, thereby enabling operation at relatively high sample fluid flow rates, resulting in an increase in the number of ions that may be delivered to a mass analyzer. A second segment forms a single common channel that receives a plurality of sample streams and enables them to combine into a single ion stream that may be introduced as a single gas stream expansion into the second chamber.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Jean Jacques Dunyach