A NOVEL ION-MOBILITY BASED DEVICE USING AN OSCILLATORY HIGH-FIELD ION SEPARATOR WITH A MULTI-CHANNEL ARRAY CHARGE COLLECTOR

摘要

The present invention relates generally to ion mobility spectrometer devices, and particularly, a novel type of ion separator based on the principle of ion mobility separation of molecules in the vapor phase. The proposed device utilizes several interesting characteristics of the behavior of molecular ion motion in a neutral buffer gas under the influence of electric fields. The result is a miniature high-resolution ion generator, separator, and detector that is capable of real-time detection of a range of molecular species in concentrations of parts per billion or less.