High transmission 3D printed flex-PCB-based ion funnel.

In this study a novel fabrication method for a radio frequency (RF) ion funnel is presented. RF ion funnels are important devices for focusing ion clouds at low vacuum conditions for mass spectrometry or deposition-related applications. Typically, ion funnels are constructed of stainless steel plate ring electrodes with a decreasing diameter where RF and direct current potentials are applied to the electrodes to focus the ion cloud. The presented novel design is based on a flexible circuit board that serves both as the signal distribution circuit and as the electrodes of the ion funnel. The flexible circuit board is rolled into a 3D printed scaffold to create a funnel shape with ring electrodes formed by the copper electrodes of the flexible circuit board. The design is characterized in direct comparison with a conventional steel-plate electrode design. The discussed results show that the new funnel has similar performance to the conventionally designed funnel despite much lower manufacturing costs.