Ion separation and storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9812310-B2
Application number	US-201715489301-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2017
Priority date	Apr 4, 2014
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

Ions provided from an ion source are separated ions into a plurality of different ion groups according to at least one ion property. At least some of the different ion groups are stored in an ion storage array, which comprises a plurality of independently operable storage cells, each storage cell being arranged to receive and store a different ion group. A controller is programmed to cause selective switching of each of the storage cells between an ion receiving mode and an ion storage mode, and between the ion storage mode and an ion release mode. In particular, the switching of each storage cell is controllable independently of the switching of any of the other storage cells. Upon release from a respective storage cell of the array, ions are provided to one or more mass analyzers for subsequent analysis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ion storage mass spectrometer, comprising:
an ion source for providing ions;
a first ion separator for separating the ions into a plurality of ion groups based on ion mobility or mass, each different ion group comprising ions within a different known mass or mobility window;
a second ion separator for further separating each of said plurality of ion groups into a plurality of ion sub-groups based on mass-to-charge ratio (m/z), each of the different ion sub-groups of each ion group comprising ions within a different known mass sub-window of the respective ion group mass or mobility window;
one or more mass analyzers for analyzing the ions of each ion sub-group; and
an ion storage array comprising a plurality of independently operable ion storage cells, the ion storage array being one of:
i) disposed between the first ion separator and the second ion separator for receiving the plurality of ion groups from the first ion separator, for storing each received ion group within a different predetermined ion storage cell, and for selectively releasing said ion groups for introduction into the second ion separator; or
ii) disposed between the second ion separator and the one or more mass analyzers for receiving the plurality of ion sub-groups from the second ion separator, for storing each received ion sub-group within a different predetermined ion storage cell, and for selectively releasing each of said ion sub-groups for introduction into the one or more mass analyzers.

2. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 1 , wherein the first ion separator comprises a mobility-based ion separator having an ion introduction stage for receiving the ions from the ion source, and having a separation stage for separating the ions into the plurality of different ion groups based on differences in the mobilities of the ions.

3. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 2 , wherein the second ion separator comprises an ion trap array comprising a plurality of ion trap devices, each ion trap device for separating one of the plurality of different ion groups into a corresponding plurality of the different ion sub-groups, and wherein the ion storage array is disposed between the first ion separator and the second ion separator.

4. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 3 , comprising a secondary ion storage array disposed between each ion trap device and the one or more mass analyzers, each secondary ion storage array comprising a plurality of independently operable secondary storage cells, each of the secondary storage cell for storing ions corresponding to the known mass sub-window of only one ion sub-group.

5. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 4 , wherein the ion trap array is disposed within a vacuum chamber, and comprising a first plurality of electrodes disposed adjacent to the ion storage array, the first plurality of electrodes cooperating to form a first ion transport section for receiving the ion groups that are released from the ion storage array when the storage cells are switched from the ion storage mode to the ion release mode, and for transporting the received ions groups along a path that extends through a vacuum interface and into the vacuum chamber.

6. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 5 , comprising a second plurality of electrodes disposed between the vacuum interface and the ion trap array within the vacuum chamber, the second plurality of electrodes cooperating to form a second ion transport section for receiving the ion groups that are transported through the vacuum interface and for transporting said ion groups to predetermined ion traps of the ion trap array.

7. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 6 , wherein the mobility-based ion separator effects a spatial separation of the ions along a length of the separation stage, and wherein the storage cells of the ion storage array are distributed along the length of the separation stage, and further comprising at least one guide electrode for establishing an electric field for directing the different ion groups into respective storage cells that are adjacent to the locations of the different ion groups along the length of the separation stage.

8. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 2 , wherein the second ion separator comprises a quadrupole mass filter, and wherein the ion storage array is disposed between the second ion separator and the one or more mass analyzers.

9. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 8 , comprising a first plurality of electrodes disposed between the quadrupole mass filter and the ion storage array, the first plurality of electrodes cooperating to form a branching guide for receiving each ion sub-group from the quadrupole mass filter and for directing the received ion sub-groups to predetermined storage cells of the ion storage array.

10. The ion storage mass spectrometer of claim 9 , wherein the one or more mass analyzers is disposed within a vacuum chamber, and comprising a second plurality of electrodes disposed between the ion storage array and the one or more mass analyzers, the second plurality of electrodes cooperating to form a collecting guide for receiving the ion sub-groups that are released from the ion storage array when the storage cells are switched from the ion storage mode to the ion release mode, and for transporting the received ion sub-groups along a path that extends through a vacuum interface and into the vacuum chamber.

11. A method of mass spectrometric analysis, comprising:
providing a population of ions;
performing a first separation of the population of ions using a mobility-based ion separator, thereby forming a plurality of different ion groups, each different ion group comprising ions within a different known mass window;
performing a second separation of the population of ions, comprising separating each different ion group into a plurality of different ion sub-groups based on mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio, each different ion sub-group comprising ions within a different known mass sub-window of the respective ion group mass window;
providing an ion storage array comprising a plurality of independently operable ion storage cells, each storage cell supporting the trapping of only one ion group or only one ion sub-group; and
one of:
trapping within each storage cell only one ion group of the plurality of different ion groups, subsequently releasing the ions that are stored within at least one storage cell of the plurality of storage cells, and subjecting the released ions to the second separation; and
trapping within each storage cell only one ion sub-group of the plurality of different ion sub-groups, subsequently releasing the ions that are stored within at least one storage cell of the plurality of storage cells, and subjecting the released ions to mass analysis using a mass analyzer.

Assignees

• Thermo Finnigan Llc

Inventors

• Kovtoun Viatcheslav V
• Makarov Alexander A

Classifications

• H01J49/0422 Primary

  for gaseous samples (interfaces to gas chromatographs G01N30/7206) · CPC title

• H01J49/4295 Primary

  Storage methods · CPC title

• H01J49/04

  Arrangements for introducing or extracting samples to be analysed, e.g. vacuum locks; Arrangements for external adjustment of electron- or ion-optical components · CPC title

• H01J49/062

  Ion guides (linear ion traps performing mass selection H01J49/4225, mass filters H01J49/421) · CPC title

• H01J49/165

  Electrospray ionisation · CPC title