US-12620567-B2 - Apparatus for ion manipulation having curved turn regions

US12620567B2US 12620567 B2US12620567 B2US 12620567B2US-12620567-B2

Abstract

An apparatus for ion manipulations includes an ion manipulation path extending between an inlet and an outlet, at least one continuous electrode configured to receive a first RF voltage signal, and a plurality of segmented electrodes configured to receive a second voltage signal and generate a traveling wave field based thereon. The ion manipulation path includes a first region extending in a first direction, a second region extending in a second direction, and a curved region extending between the first and second regions. The at least one continuous electrode extends through the first region, the curved region, and second region. The segmented electrodes are arranged along the ion manipulation path in the first region, the curved region, and the second region. The traveling wave field is configured to cause ions to travel through, the first region, the curved region, and the second region.

Inventors

Liulin Deng
Adam Michael Engelson
John Daniel DeBord

Assignees

MOBILion Systems, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230202

Claims (20)

1 . An apparatus for ion manipulations, comprising: an inlet configured to receive ions and an outlet configured to have ions discharged therefrom; an ion manipulation path extending between the inlet and the outlet, the ion manipulation path including a first region extending in a first direction, a second region extending in a second direction, and a curved region extending between the first region and the second region; at least one continuous electrode extending through the first region, the curved region, and the second region, the at least one continuous electrode configured to receive a first RF voltage signal; and a plurality of segmented electrodes arranged along the ion manipulation path, each segmented electrode extending uninterruptedly through the first region, the curved region, and the second region, the plurality of segmented electrodes configured to receive a second voltage signal and generate a traveling wave field based on the second voltage signal, wherein the traveling wave field is configured to cause the ions received at the inlet to travel through the first region, the curved region, and the second region.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one continuous electrode curves along the curved region in a single continuous curve.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one continuous electrode curves along the curved region in a plurality of angularly connected sequential straight sections.
4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second direction is different than the first direction.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second direction is the same as the first direction, and the second region is laterally offset from the first region.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the curved region curves between 0° to 180° from the first region to the second region.
7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the curved region includes at least two sequential turns.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the curved region is configured to change a direction of travel of the ions.
9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one continuous electrode includes a first continuous electrode and a second continuous electrode, and the plurality of segmented electrodes are positioned between the first continuous electrode and the second continuous electrode.
10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , comprising a second plurality of segmented electrodes arranged along the ion manipulation path in the first region, the curved region, and the second region, wherein the at least one continuous electrode includes a third continuous electrode and the second plurality of segmented electrodes are positioned between the second continuous electrode and the third continuous electrode, and wherein the plurality of segmented electrodes includes a first number of individual electrodes in the curved region and the second plurality of segmented electrodes includes a second number of individual electrodes in the curved region, the second number being greater than the first number.
11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second voltage signal is an AC voltage signal, and the AC voltage signal applied to adjacent electrodes within a sequential set of the plurality of segmented electrodes is phase shifted on the adjacent electrodes of the plurality of segmented electrodes by a first value between 1° and 359°, wherein the second plurality of segmented electrodes are configured to receive the AC voltage signal, and the AC voltage signal applied to adjacent electrodes within a sequential set of the second plurality of segmented electrodes is phase shifted on the adjacent electrodes of the second plurality of segmented electrodes by a second value between 1° and 359°, and wherein the second value is different than the first value.
12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of segmented electrodes are curved electrodes, rectangular electrodes, or a combination of curved electrodes and rectangular electrodes.
13 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one continuous electrode is arranged on a surface, and the plurality of segmented electrodes are arranged on the surface.
14 . A curved ion manipulation path, comprising: an inlet configured to receive ions in a first direction and an outlet configured to discharge ions in a second direction; a curved region extending between the inlet and the outlet; at least one continuous electrode extending through the curved region from the inlet to the outlet, the at least one continuous electrode configured to receive a first RF voltage signal; and a first plurality of segmented electrodes arranged along the curved region and extending from the inlet to the outlet, the plurality of segmented electrodes configured to receive a second voltage signal and generate a traveling wave field based on the second voltage signal, one or more second segmented electrodes arranged along the curved region and extending from the inlet to the outlet, the one or more second segmented electrodes configured to receive the second voltage signal and generate the traveling wave field based on the second voltage signal; and wherein the plurality of segmented electrodes includes a first number of individual electrodes in the curved region and the one or more second segmented electrodes includes a second number of individual electrodes in the curved region, the second number being different than the first number; and wherein the traveling wave field is configured to cause the ions received at the inlet to travel through the curved region and to be discharged from the outlet in the second direction.
15 . The curved ion manipulation path of claim 14 , wherein the at least one continuous electrode curves along the curved region in a single continuous curve.
16 . The curved ion manipulation path of claim 14 , wherein the at least one continuous electrode curves along the curved region in a plurality of angularly connected sequential straight sections.
17 . The curved ion manipulation path of claim 14 , wherein the second direction is different than the first direction.
18 . The curved ion manipulation path of claim 14 , wherein the second direction is the same as the first direction, and the inlet is laterally offset from the outlet.
19 . The curved ion manipulation path of claim 14 , wherein the curved region curves between 0° to 180° from the inlet to the outlet.
20 . The curved ion manipulation path of claim 14 , wherein the curved region includes at least two sequential turns.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT/US2021/065617, filed Dec. 30, 2021, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/132,876, filed on Dec. 31, 2020, both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to ion extraction and transmission systems used in the fields of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and mass spectrometry (MS). More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for extracting ions from a gas flow, e.g., using ion manipulation systems such as Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulation (SLIM) to extract ions from a low-pressure gas mixture and focus the extracted ions through an aperture into an adjoining vacuum chamber, as well as IMS devices having curved regions and ion manipulation paths. RELATED ART Mass spectrometry and ion mobility systems can utilize one or more inlet ion optics to couple an ionization source, e.g., an electrospray ion source, with an analyzer device, e.g., a mass spectrometer, or ion manipulation optics, e.g., an ion mobility separation (IMS) device, for example. In particular, such inlet ion optics are configured to receive ions from the ionization source, which can be discharged from the ionization source and into the inlet ion optics through a capillary or skimmer, focus the received ions, and transfer the ions to an adjoining vacuum region that differs in pressure or flow characteristics. This adjoining vacuum region can contain an analyzer that separates or filters the incoming ions based on their gas phase mobility or mass to charge ratio. For example, the capillary can discharge the ions into the inlet ion optics within a low-pressure, high-flow gas stream. One type of inlet ion optics is an ion funnel, such as a stacked ring ion funnel. Stacked ring ion funnels can include a series of stacked ring electrodes that are spaced apart and extend from an entrance to an exit, and define an interior chamber. The entrance can receive the capillary, e.g., from an electrospray ion source, which discharges ions into the interior chamber of the stacked ring ion funnel. However, ion funnels often require a multitude of high-precision components arranged into a complex and costly assembly, a relatively large form factor to operate properly, and time consuming and complicated computational fluid dynamics and ion trajectory simulations for design optimization. An additional issue that can result from the low-pressure, high-flow gas stream being discharged into the inlet ion optics is that a portion of the discharged gas can enter the adjoining vacuum region. In many ion analysis systems this adjoining vacuum region houses analyzers which require well controlled pressure and flow conditions to operate properly. This analyzer region can be at a lower or higher pressure than that of the inlet optics region. In either case, the incoming gas flow from the ion source may be transmitted to the analyzer region, e.g., if the inlet extraction optics are not designed with significant care to ensure proper and adequate removal of the gas. This can result in the contamination or disruption of the analyzer region, which can be detrimental to the device's intended ion manipulation function, e.g., due to the gas flow and/or composition. To fully remove gas jet effects from the exit of the inlet ion optics, complicated designs, such as dual ion funnels, orthogonal capillary inlet configurations, etc., are necessary, which can add to the overall cost, size, and complexity of the system. Inlet ion optics can also be expensive and complex devices that require substantial design effort to ensure compatibility with the ionization source and analyzer to which they are intended to be coupled. In some instances, this can also require modification of the ionization source and/or device hardware. Moreover, since in some instances prior art inlet ion optics are designed to be coupled to a specific ionization source and analyzer, additional or alternative inlet ion optics cannot be utilized in the same system without substantial and expensive modifications. In addition to the foregoing, prior art SLIM devices include turn regions that are formed from multiple paths interfacing at 90 degree angles, and which utilize perpendicular intersections or junctions of electrodes, e.g., RF electrodes and traveling wave electrodes, in order to change the direction of travel for ions. Thus, in prior art turn regions, ions are discharged from one path into another perpendicular path to cause the ions' direction of travel to change. However, this configuration results in some different phase RF electrodes being in close proximity at interface regions of the turn, e.g., where a first path transitions or intersects with a second path. This can result in mis-aligned RF signals that can have negative