RF planar ion trap for chemical sensing

RF ion traps are a principle means for molecule separation used in mass spectrometry based chemical sensors. Until recently the lab confined mass spectrometer has been too expensive and cumbersome for field based analysis. Advancements in packaging and electronics have led to smaller instrumentation and even more so, the miniaturization of the electric field based ion trap leads to lower voltage and power requirements for handheld mass spectrometers. Of the several types of ion traps the 3D cylindrical ion trap has proven most conducive to scaling; however, it is limited by small trapping capacities and poor trapping efficiency. This paper demonstrates a new RF ion trap design capable of being fabricated through planar techniques amenable to MEMS and system-in-package integration. Furthermore, it has the trapping capacity and trapping efficiency of a 2D rectilinear ion trap.