Ion Peak Narrowing by Applying Additional AC Voltage (Ripple Voltage) to FAIMS Extractor Electrode

The use of a non-uniform electric field in a high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) analyzer increases sensitivity but decreases resolution. The application of an additional AC voltage to the extractor electrode (“ripple” voltage, Uripple) can overcome this effect, which decreases the FAIMS peak width. In this approach, the diffusion ion loss remains minimal in the non-uniform electric field in the cylindrical part of the device, and all ion losses under Uripple occur in a short portion of their path. Application of the ripple voltage to the extractor electrode is twice as efficient as the applying of Uripple along the total length of the device.

Graphical AbstractWe have proposed and verified the idea of optimizing FAIMS performance in terms of sensitivity and resolution by applying the ripple voltage.Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (31 K)Download as PowerPoint slide