Tailoring fields of one-sheet and two-sheet planar ion trap mass analyzers

Abstract

In this paper, a simulation study on tailoring the fields in planar ion trap geometries for making them suitable for mass analysis is presented. Two different planar trap geometries were considered: the first is a One-Sheet Ion Trap Geometry in which the ions are trapped off-plane and the second is a Two-Sheet Ion Trap Geometry in which the ions are trapped in between the two sheets. Both DC and RF potentials were used to trap ions.The fields were tailored to obtain linear trapping fields in these two geometries. This was done by splitting the central electrode into segments and applying suitable DC potentials to them. The potentials were computed using a least square method. The simulations were carried out considering a printed circuit board (PCB) with a Teflon base. The One-Sheet Ion Trap Geometry consists of five electrodes, of which the central electrode is segmented. In Two-Sheet Ion Trap Geometry, each sheet consists of three electrodes, of which the central electrode is segmented.The method outlined in the study is able to tailor fields to be linear as well as mildly superlinear.