A "Brick Mass Spectrometer" Driven by a Sinusoidal Frequency Scanning Technique.

In this work, a "brick" size miniature mass spectrometer (28 cm × 21 cm × 16 cm) was developed and characterized, which was enabled by the development of a new frequency scanning technique. Different from the conventional voltage scanning method or the digital waveforms used on a digital ion trap, a sinusoidal frequency scanning technique was developed to drive the linear ion trap of the brick mass spectrometer (BMS). Both an in-vacuum plasma ionization source and an electrospray ionization source were coupled with this BMS for the analyses of volatile and nonvolatile samples. Stability diagram, sensitivity, mass resolution, and mass range of the BMS were explored. This new frequency scanning technique could not only reduce the size and power consumption of a miniature mass spectrometer but also improve its analytical performances, especially in terms of mass range and resolution. Analogous to the development of cell phones, this BMS would be an important step from "brick" mass spectrometer to "cell" mass spectrometer.