Trapping ion mobility spectrometer with parallel accumulation
First Claim
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1. A method for operating a trapping ion mobility spectrometer, comprising the steps:
- (a) accumulating ions from an ion source in an RF ion trap;
(b) transferring at least a subset of the accumulated ions into a trapping ion mobility separator, in which the transferred ions are radially confined by an RF field and pushed by a gas flow against a rising edge of an axial electric DC field barrier such that the transferred ions are spatially separated along the rising edge according to ion mobility;
(c) successively releasing the transferred ions according to their ion mobility by decreasing the height of the electric DC field barrier while ions from the ion source are further accumulated in the RF ion trap; and
(d) restoring the height of the electric DC field barrier which triggers a consecutive transfer of the accumulated ions from the RF ion trap into the trapping ion mobility separator.
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Abstract
The invention relates to the operation of trapping ion mobility spectrometers based on pushing ions by a gas flow against a counter-acting electric DC field barrier, preferably in combination with a mass analyzer as ion detector. The invention provides an additional RF ion trap upstream of the trapping ion mobility spectrometer, wherein the RF ion trap is operated as an accumulation unit in parallel with the trapping ion mobility spectrometer such that a first group of ions can be analyzed in the trapping ion mobility spectrometer while a second group of ions from an ion source are simultaneously collected in accumulation unit.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for operating a trapping ion mobility spectrometer, comprising the steps:
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(a) accumulating ions from an ion source in an RF ion trap; (b) transferring at least a subset of the accumulated ions into a trapping ion mobility separator, in which the transferred ions are radially confined by an RF field and pushed by a gas flow against a rising edge of an axial electric DC field barrier such that the transferred ions are spatially separated along the rising edge according to ion mobility; (c) successively releasing the transferred ions according to their ion mobility by decreasing the height of the electric DC field barrier while ions from the ion source are further accumulated in the RF ion trap; and (d) restoring the height of the electric DC field barrier which triggers a consecutive transfer of the accumulated ions from the RF ion trap into the trapping ion mobility separator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 20, 21)
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9. A method for operating a trapping ion mobility spectrometer, comprising the steps:
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(a) accumulating ions from an ion source in an RF ion trap; (b) transferring at least a subset of the accumulated ions into a trapping ion mobility separator, in which the transferred ions are radially confined by an RF field and pushed by a gas flow against a rising edge of a first axial electric DC field barrier such that the transferred ions are spatially separated along the rising edge according to ion mobility; and (c) successively releasing the transferred ions according to their ion mobility by decreasing the height of the first axial electric DC field barrier while ions from the ion source are further accumulated in the RF ion trap, wherein, during steps (a) and (c), ions in the RF ion trap are pushed by the gas flow in the axial direction against a rising edge of a second axial electric DC field barrier wherein the height of the second axial electric DC field barrier is adjusted such that ions are trapped along the rising edge of the second axial electric DC field barrier and spatially separated according to ion mobility. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system comprising:
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an ion source; an RF ion trap; and a trapping ion mobility separator comprising an RF field for radially confining ions, an axially acting electric DC field barrier having a rising edge with an increasing electric DC field and a gas flow counteracting the electric DC field at the rising edge; wherein the RF ion trap is located between the ion source and the trapping ion mobility separator and wherein the RF ion trap has a first mode of operation for accumulating ions from the ion source and a second mode of operation for transferring ions towards the ion trapping ion mobility separator; and wherein the RF ion trap comprises an axially acting adjustable electric DC field barrier having a rising edge with an increasing electric DC field and a gas flow counteracting the electric DC field at the rising edge. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification