双螺旋离子漏斗设计及仿真研究

Design and Simulation of Double-Helix Ion Funnel

  • 摘要: 离子传输系统沿离子转移路线对离子进行调控和传输,是影响质谱仪性能的重要部件。本研究报道了一种用于粗真空区域离子传输的新型双螺旋离子漏斗(double-helix ion funnel, DH-IF),其结合了多极杆电极对称连续和堆叠环结构在离子捕获方面的优点。使用COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0研究其内部电场特性,并在SIMION 8.1中构建DH-IF离子轨迹仿真模型,探究电极间距、射频频率及电压幅值等参数对离子传输效率的影响。结果表明,DH-IF具有陡峭的径向赝势分布,有效抑制粗真空离子云发散;由于连续对称的电极结构,DH-IF相比传统的堆叠环离子漏斗(ion funnel,IF)具有改善的轴向电场分布,受电势“陷阱”影响微弱。此外,DH-IF在测试气压范围(200~1 200 Pa)内,对中低质荷比离子均呈现较高的传输效率,工作气压范围较宽。同时,在粗真空离子导向器典型的工作气压(266.6 Pa)下,当射频反相电极间距为0.5 mm、射频频率为1.5 MHz时,离子传输效率最高。此外,DH-IF相比IF提高了宽质量范围离子(m/z 68~1 755)同时传输的效率。

     

    Abstract: The ion guide system, functioning as a pivotal component in mass spectrometers, governs ion regulation and transmission along the ion transfer route, and serves as an important part influencing the performance of mass spectrometry instruments. In this work, a novel double-helix ion funnel (DH-IF) was designed for ion transmission in the rough vacuum region, which combined the advantages of multipole electrodes in symmetry and continuity and stacked-ring ion guides in ion capturing. The electric field properties of DH-IF were investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. The results showed that the steep radial pseudopotential distribution of DH-IF is effective in reducing the divergence of ion clouds in rough vacuum region. In addition, the DH-IF improves the axial electric field distributions compared with the conventional stacked-ring ion funnels (IF) benefiting from the continuous symmetric electrode, and sufferes little from the potential traps. Then, the model of ion trajectory simulation in rough vacuum was constructed in SIMION8.1 to assess the impacts of structural parameters (electrode spacing), operational conditions (operating pressure), and radiofrequency (RF) parameters (frequency and amplitude) on ion transmission efficiency. The results showed that DH-IF maintains high transmission efficiency across a broad operating pressure range (200-1 200 Pa) for low-to-medium mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) ions. Under typical operating pressure for rough vacuum ion guides (266.6 Pa), optimal ion transmission efficiency was achieved with a distance between RF+ and RF electrodes of 0.5 mm and RF frequency of 1.5 MHz. Additionally, the influence of RF amplitude on the transmission efficiency of ions ranging from m/z 68 to m/z 1 755 was studied. The results showed that the transmission efficiency of all ions increases rapidly with the increase of the RF voltage amplitude and remains stable after reaching the peak value. It was worth noting that DH-IF improves the efficiency of the simultaneous transferring of low and medium m/z ions compared with IF, which is attributed to its improved electric field distribution. The structure design and transmission performance of DH-IF were elaborated and simulated, hoping to provide some theoretical support for the practical application. This study of DH-IF provides a new idea for the design of ion guides used in rough vacuum region, and the DH-IF is expected to be widely used as an ion import device in MS instruments, which is due to its improved performance and advantages in, e.g., integration and power supply design.

     

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