An electrodynamic ion funnel for electrospray ionization source based time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

An electrodynamic ion funnel has been developed for improving the sensitivity of electrospray ionization sources widely used in the mass spectrometric study of proteins and other biological macromolecules. The ion funnel consists of 52 electrodes and works under the combined influence of RF and DC voltages in the pressure range of 0.1 to 5 mbar. A novel feature of this ion funnel is the specific shape of the exit electrode that improves transmission of lower mass ions by reducing the depth of effective trapping potentials. In this paper, we report on the optimization of the ion funnel design using ion trajectory simulation software SIMION 8.0 especially in the mass range 500–5000 amu, followed by experimental observations of the ion transmission from the electrospray interface. It is seen that the electrospray-ion funnel combination greatly enhances the transmission when compared with an electrospray-skimmer interface. Ion currents > 1 nA could be obtained at the exit of the ion funnel for dilute Streptomycin Sulphate (∼ 1500 amu) solution with the ion funnel operating in the 500–900 kHz frequency range, amplitude of 70 Vp−p, under a DC gradient of about 20 Volts/cm at a background pressure of 0.3 mbar. Details of the construction of the ion funnel along with the experimental results are presented.