A "screened" electrostatic ion trap for enhanced mass resolution, mass accuracy, reproducibility, and upper mass limit in Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

Until now, it was thought that the optimal static electromagnetic ion trap for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry should be designed to produce a quadrupolar electrical potential, for which the ion cyclotron frequency is independent of the ion's preexcitation location within the trap. However, a quadrupolar potential results in a transverse (to the magnetic field) electric field that increases linearly with distance from the center of the trap. That radially linear electric field shifts the observed ICR frequency, increases the ICR orbital radius, and ultimately limits the highest mass-to-charge ratio ion that can be contained within the trap. In this paper, we propose a new static electromagnetic ion "trap" in which grounded screens placed just inside the usual "trapping" plates produce a good approximation to a "particle-in-a-box" potential (rather than the quadrupolar "harmonic oscillator" potential). SIMION calculations confirm that the electric potential of the screened trap is near zero almost everywhere within the trap. For our screened orthorhombic (2.5 in. X 2 in. X 2 in.) trap, the experimental ICR frequency shift due to trapping voltage is reduced by a factor of approximately 100, and the experimental variation of ICR frequency with ICR radius is reduced by a factor of approximately 10 compared to a conventional (unscreened) 2-in. cubic ion trap.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)