Apparatus and methods are provided for
trapping, manipulation and transferring ions along RF and
DC potential surfaces and through RF
ion guides. Potential wells are formed near RF-field generating surfaces due to the overlap of the radio-frequency (RF) fields and electrostatic fields created by static potentials applied to surrounding electrodes. Ions can be constrained and accumulated over time in such wells. During confinement, ions may be subjected to various processes, such as accumulation, fragmentation, collisional cooling, focusing,
mass-to-charge filtering, spatial separation
ion mobility and chemical interactions, leading to
improved performance in subsequent
processing and analysis steps, such as
mass analysis. Alternatively, the motion of ions may be better manipulated during confinement to improve the efficiency of their transport to specific locations, such as an entrance aperture into vacuum from
atmospheric pressure or into a subsequent vacuum stage.