Compact mass spectrometer

Abstract

A miniature mass spectrometer includes an atmospheric pressure ionisation source and a first vacuum chamber having an atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary, a second vacuum chamber downstream of the first vacuum chamber, and a third vacuum chamber downstream of the second vacuum chamber. An ion detector is located in the third vacuum chamber. A first RF ion guide is located within the first vacuum chamber and a second RF ion guide is located within the second vacuum chamber. The ion path length from the atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary to an ion detecting surface of the ion detector is ≤400 mm. The mass spectrometer also includes a tandem quadrupole mass analyser, 3D ion trap mass analyser, 2D or linear ion trap mass analyser, Time of Flight mass analyser, quadrupole-Time of Flight mass analyser, or electrostatic mass analyser arranged in the third vacuum chamber.

Claims

1. A mass spectrometer comprising: an atmospheric pressure ionisation source; a first vacuum chamber having an atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary, a second vacuum chamber located downstream of said first vacuum chamber and a third vacuum chamber located downstream of said second vacuum chamber; an ion detector; and a first RF ion guide located within said first vacuum chamber; wherein the ion path length from said atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary to an ion detecting surface of said ion detector is ≤400 mm; and wherein the product of the pressure P.sub.1 in the vicinity of said first RF ion guide and said length L.sub.1 of said first RF ion guide is in the range 10-100 mbar-cm.

2. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second RF ion guide located within said second vacuum chamber.

3. A mass spectrometer comprising: an atmospheric pressure ionisation source; a first vacuum chamber having an atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary, a second vacuum chamber located downstream of said first vacuum chamber and a third vacuum chamber located downstream of said second vacuum chamber; an ion detector; and a second RF ion guide located within said second vacuum chamber; wherein the ion path length from said atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary to an ion detecting surface of said ion detector is ≤400 mm; and wherein the product of the pressure P.sub.2 in the vicinity of said second RF ion guide and said length L.sub.2 of said second RF ion guide is in the range 0.05-0.3 mbar-cm.

4. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a first RF ion guide located within said first vacuum chamber.

5. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a fourth vacuum chamber located downstream of said third vacuum chamber.

6. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a tandem quadrupole mass analyser, a 3D ion trap mass analyser, a 2D or linear ion trap mass analyser, a Time of Flight mass analyser, a quadrupole-Time of Flight mass analyser, a quadrupole mass filter or an electrostatic mass analyser.

7. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising one or more collision, fragmentation or reaction cells.

8. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a first vacuum pump arranged and adapted to pump said first vacuum chamber, wherein said first vacuum pump has a maximum pumping speed ≤10 m.sup.3/hr (2.78 L/s).

9. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 8, wherein said first vacuum pump is arranged and adapted to maintain said first vacuum chamber at a pressure <10 mbar.

10. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said first vacuum chamber has an internal volume ≤500 cm.sup.3; said second vacuum chamber has an internal volume ≤500 cm.sup.3; and/or said third vacuum chamber has an internal volume ≤2000 cm.sup.3.

11. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the total internal volume of said first, second and third vacuum chambers is ≤2000 cm.sup.3.

12. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first RF ion guide and/or said second RF ion guide comprise a dual conjoined stacked ring ion guide, a multipole ion guide, a stacked ring ion guide or an ion funnel ion guide.

13. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first RF ion guide and/or said second RF ion guide has a length <100 mm.

14. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second vacuum chamber is arranged to be maintained at a pressure in the range 0.001-0.1 mbar.

15. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third vacuum chamber is arranged to be maintained at a pressure <0.0003 mbar.

16. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second vacuum pump arranged and adapted to pump said second vacuum chamber and said third vacuum chamber.

17. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 16, wherein said second vacuum pump comprises a split flow turbomolecular vacuum pump.

18. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 16, wherein said first vacuum pump is arranged and adapted to act as a backing vacuum pump to said second vacuum pump.

19. A mass spectrometer as claimed in claim 16, wherein: said second vacuum pump comprises an intermediate or interstage port connected to said second vacuum chamber and a high vacuum (“HV”) port connected to said third vacuum chamber; and said second vacuum pump is arranged to pump said second vacuum chamber via said intermediate or interstage port at a maximum pumping speed ≤70 L/s; and/or said second vacuum pump is arranged to pump said third vacuum chamber via said high vacuum port at a maximum pumping speed in the range 40-80 L/s.

20. A method of mass spectrometry comprising: providing a mass spectrometer comprising an atmospheric pressure ionisation source, a first vacuum chamber having an atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary, a second vacuum chamber located downstream of said first vacuum chamber, a third vacuum chamber located downstream of said second vacuum chamber, and an ion detector, wherein the ion path length from said atmospheric pressure sampling orifice or capillary to an ion detecting surface of said ion detector is ≤400 mm; and providing a first RF ion guide located within said first vacuum chamber, maintaining the product of the pressure P.sub.1 in the vicinity of said first RF ion guide and said length L.sub.1 of said first RF ion guide in the range 10-100 mbar-cm, and passing analyte ions through said first RF ion guide; and/or providing a second RF ion guide located within said second vacuum chamber, maintaining the product of the pressure P.sub.2 in the vicinity of the second RF ion guide and the length L.sub.2 of the second RF ion guide in the range 0.05-0.3 mbar-cm, and passing analyte ions through said second RF ion guide.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Various embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a plot of the relative ion transmission as a function of the diameter of an orifice in an atmospheric sampling cone;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a plot of the relative ion transmission as a function of the diameter of a gas limiting orifice situated between the first two regions of differential pumping of a mass spectrometer;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a table showing schematic representations of different arrangements of mass spectrometers with increasing numbers of differential pumping stages and with and without an RF ion guide being provided in the first stage;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a plot of the ion transmission through a quadrupole mass filter as a function of the vacuum pressure at which the mass filter is operated;

(6) FIG. 5A shows a plot of the pseudo potential formed within RF ion guides of different geometries and FIG. 5B shows a plot of the pseudo potential formed within RF ion guides of different geometries over a restricted pseudo-potential range in order to highlight the different focussing characteristics of the ion guides;

(7) FIG. 6 shows a plot of the relative ion transmission as a function of the diameter of a gas limiting orifice situated between the second region of differential pumping and a chamber housing a mass analyser when the RF ion guide used was either a quadrupole or a hexapole; and

(8) FIG. 7 shows a schematic representation of a compact mass spectrometer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(9) A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described. The preferred embodiment relates to a compact or miniature mass spectrometer which preferably maintains a level of sensitivity similar to current commercial full size mass spectrometers but which is substantially smaller (<0.05 m.sup.3 c.f.>0.15 m.sup.3 for a conventional full size instrument), lighter (<30 kg c.f.>70 kg) and less expensive.

(10) The preferred miniature mass spectrometer utilises a small backing vacuum pump and a small turbomolecular vacuum pump with considerably lower pumping speeds (<70 L/s c.f.>300 L/s for a full size turbomolecular vacuum pump and <5 m.sup.3/h c.f.>30 m.sup.3/h for the backing vacuum pump) than a conventional full size mass spectrometer and which consequently consumes considerably less electricity and generates considerably less heat and noise than a conventional full size mass spectrometer.

(11) The preferred mass spectrometer is preferably used for real time on-line analysis of samples separated using high pressure or ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC/UHPLC). As such, the sensitivity of the mass spectrometer is commonly described in terms of the signal-to-noise of the mass spectral intensity obtained for a given quantity of a specified molecule as it elutes from the liquid chromatography (LC) system. For example, the sensitivity specification for a conventional full size mass spectrometer comprising a single quadrupole mass spectrometer is that a 1 pg on column injection (5 μL of 0.2 pg/μL) of Reserpine should give a chromatographic signal-to-noise (S:N) for m/z 609 greater than 120:1.

(12) The ability to detect less material on column at the same signal-to-noise level or a higher signal-to-noise value for the same material on column would both correspond to improved sensitivity. A common way of specifying the ultimate sensitivity of a mass spectrometer is by quoting a limit of detection (“LOD”) figure or a limit of quantitation (“LOQ”) figure. Typically LOD is taken to mean a S:N of 3:1 and LOQ is taken to mean a S:N of 10:1.

(13) Published data for the known miniature mass spectrometer manufactured by Microsaic states that the LOD is 5 ng on column for this instrument i.e. it requires 5000× times more material on column (5 ng c.f. 1 pg) to obtain a significantly worse S:N (3:1 c.f. 120:1). When accounting for a large post-column split the actual LOD for the Microsaic mass spectrometer is approximately 1 pg. By way of contrast, a limit of quantitation (LOQ) for a prototype miniature mass spectrometer according to an embodiment of the present invention is around 0.1 pg of material on column. The LOD is below this level and highlights the sensitivity benefits of the miniature mass spectrometer according to the present invention compared with the known miniature mass spectrometer. Furthermore, the improvement in sensitivity according to the present invention affords a greater linear dynamic range. According to published data for the Microsaic instrument the instrument has a linear dynamic range of, at best, 0.5 μg/mL to 65 μg/mL which is equivalent to approximately 2 orders of magnitude. In contrast, the mass spectrometer according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is capable of producing linearity data across 4 orders of dynamic range.

(14) FIG. 3 summarises the basic differential pumping schemes that could potentially be used with a mass spectrometer where the number of differential pumping stages varies between zero and three and the first stage of differential pumping either does or does not contain an RF ion guide.

(15) The term RF ion guide in this context relates to (but is not limited to) such devices as quadrupoles, hexapoles, octopoles, multipoles, stacked ring ion guides, travelling wave ion guides, ion funnels, etc. and/or combinations thereof. FIG. 3 shows by way of example only, the differential pumping schemes in front of a single quadrupole mass analyser and an ion detector. The differential pumping stages may be vacuum pumped by turbomolecular and/or drag and/or diffusion and/or rotary and/or scroll and/or diaphragm vacuum pumps.

(16) Differential pumping schemes with zero or one stage are not typically encountered due to the large pressure drop between stages necessitating either small orifices or large vacuum pumps.

(17) As the number of differential pumping stages increases it can be seen that this leads to a corresponding increase in the overall length of the mass spectrometer. Likewise, the inclusion of an RF ion guide within a stage of differential pumping also leads to an increase in the length of the mass spectrometer.

(18) To produce a mass spectrometer that is as small as possible it is therefore beneficial to minimise the number of differential pumping stages and to minimise the number of ion guides used. However, this is at odds with the requirement of either larger vacuum pumps or smaller orifices with fewer differential pumping stages leading to an overall bigger mass spectrometer or one which is insensitive.

(19) The inventors have determined that an optimal configuration exists in which the size of the mass spectrometer can be reduced to fit in a compact form factor, which utilises small vacuum pumps and yet also provides a level of sensitivity which corresponds to that obtained from a conventional full size state of the art mass spectrometer.

(20) The inventors have recognised that the pressure in the region containing the mass analyser (in this case a quadrupole mass filter) can be allowed to increase substantially without severely affecting the sensitivity. Example data is provided in FIG. 4 which depicts the relative transmission of ions through a resolving quadrupole as a function of the pressure in the region in which the quadrupole is located. In this example the length of the quadrupole was approximately 13 cm and its field radius r0 (i.e. the radius of the inscribed circle within the four rods of the quadrupole) was approximately 5.3 mm. It should be noted that the horizontal axis (vacuum pressure) in FIG. 4 is logarithmic as data were acquired over a wide range of pressures. A change in pressure from 7×10.sup.−6 mbar to 7×10.sup.−5 mbar can be seen to result in a reduction in ion transmission to approx. 52%. Therefore, despite the pressure increasing by an order of magnitude (10×) the transmission is only reduced by a factor of two (2×).

(21) The loss of transmission at higher pressures is due to collisions of the ions with residual gas molecules which can either neutralise the ion of interest or cause it to collide with one of the quadrupole rods or otherwise become unstable and be lost to the system. Essentially this is a mean free path (mfp) phenomenon where the increasing pressure and therefore increasing number of background gas molecules leads to a reduction of the average distance an ion will travel before undergoing a collision.

(22) The inventors have also recognised that by reducing both the length of the quadrupole and its field radius, the probability of an ion colliding at a given pressure is less than that for the larger quadrupole. To a first approximation, for example, a reduction in both length and field radius to two thirds of the length/radius of a regular sized quadrupole offsets the reduction in transmission by allowing the background pressure to increase by an order of magnitude. To a first approximation then, using a smaller quadrupole allows a smaller turbo vacuum pump to be used to pump the analyser region (resulting in a pressure increase) without adversely effecting overall ion transmission.

(23) Conventionally higher order multipoles (e.g. hexapoles or octopoles) or stacked ring ion guides are used as ion guides to efficiently transport ions through a differential pumping region. These types of ion guide are preferred for two reasons. Firstly, the form of the pseudo potential of higher order multipoles and stacked ring ion guides are flatter in the centre of the ion guide and also have steep walls, both of which aids in the initial capture of the ions entering the differential pumping region through a gas limiting orifice. These can be compared in FIGS. 5A and 5B which plots the pseudo potential well depth for a quadrupole, a hexapole, an octopole and a stacked ring ion guide all operated under the same RF voltage conditions and having the same inscribed diameter. Secondly, these devices have a broader mass transmission window for a set operating condition (RF frequency, RF voltage amplitude etc) than quadrupoles. However, the advantage of using quadrupole ion guides is that they are better at focussing ions to the central ion optical axis which then makes it easier to focus the ions into and through a small orifice at the exit of the ion guide and into the subsequent vacuum chamber. This is highlighted in FIG. 5B which shows the same data as FIG. 5A but wherein the vertical scale has been limited to allow the form of the pseudo potential at the very centre of the ion guides to be compared. It is apparent from FIG. 5B that the pseudo-potential for a quadrupole ion guide is steeper leading to an improved focussing behaviour.

(24) The inventors have also recognised that for smaller exit orifices, the advantage of better ion focussing through the exit aperture outweighs the disadvantage of poorer initial ion capture at the entrance of the ion guide. This is highlighted in FIG. 6 which plots the normalised transmission through exit apertures of various diameter for both hexapole and quadrupole ion guides. As can be seen from the data, when a smaller 1.5 mm orifice is used in place of a 3 mm orifice, the transmission through the smaller orifice is superior for the quadrupole ion guide by a factor of at least two and is only slightly worse than the best transmission obtained using a hexapole with any diameter. Thus, by using a quadrupole ion guide in place of a hexapole ion guide a smaller orifice may be used without adversely reducing ion transmission.

(25) Furthermore, the smaller orifice reduces the gas flow into the subsequent vacuum chamber and hence allows a vacuum pump with lower pumping speed to be utilised in the mass analyser chamber whilst maintaining the same vacuum pressure. Alternatively, using a smaller orifice allows the pressure in the ion guide to be increased without increasing the gas flow into the subsequent chamber.

(26) Ion transmission through a quadrupole ion guide optimises at a particular figure of merit referred to as the pressure-path length. To obtain the pressure-path length figure the length of the ion guide in cm is multiplied by the vacuum pressure in the chamber in Torr to give a value in units of Torr-cm. The inventors have recognised that for a miniature or compact mass spectrometer the length of the ion guide should be shorter than in conventional mass spectrometers and that to maintain the pressure-path length at an optimum value the vacuum pressure in the region should be increased in compensation. Normally allowing the pressure to increase in this region would increase the gas flow into the subsequent vacuum chamber resulting in either an increase in pressure in the subsequent chamber or the need to use a vacuum pump with a larger pumping speed. However, as described above, the use of a quadrupole ion guide allows the exit orifice to be smaller and so an increase in pressure can be balanced with a constriction of the exit orifice leading to no net change in the gas flow into the mass analyser chamber. Additionally, and also as described above, the use of a smaller analytical quadrupole allows higher pressures in the analyser region to be tolerated in the case where the pressure rise in the ion guide region cannot be totally compensated for with a decrease in the exit orifice without reducing ion transmission.

(27) FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprising an Electrospray Ionisation ion source 701 operating at atmospheric pressure. Ions are sampled through a small orifice 702 into a first differential pumping region and are then directed through a second orifice into a second differential pumping region. A short quadrupole ion guide 703 is located in the second vacuum chamber and efficiently transports the ions through the second differential pumping stage and directs the ions to a third orifice and into an analyser chamber containing a small quadrupole mass filter 704 and an ion detector 705. A small splitflow turbomolecular pump 706 is preferably used to pump both the analyser region (using the main HV pumping port) and the second differential pumping stage (using the intermediate/interstage port). The turbomolecular pump is preferably backed by either a small rotary vane pump or a small diaphragm pump 707 which is also used to pump the first differential pumping stage.

(28) According to the preferred embodiment a quadrupole ion guide is provided. However, according to other embodiments a hexapole, octopole, ion funnel, ion tunnel, travelling wave (wherein one or more transient DC voltages are applied to the electrodes of the ion guide) or a conjoined ion guide may instead be provided.

(29) According to the preferred embodiment a turbomolecular vacuum pump with an intermediate pumping port is preferably used. However, two (or more) separate turbomolecular vacuum pumps may instead be used according to a less preferred embodiment.

(30) According to a further embodiment of the present invention the mass analyser may comprise a mass analyser other than a quadrupole mass analyser. For example, according to an embodiment of the present invention the mass analyser may comprise a tandem quadrupole mass analyser, a 3D ion trap mass analyser, a 2D or linear ion trap mass analyser, a Time of Flight mass analyser, a quadrupole-Time of Flight mass analyser or an electrostatic or Orbitrap® mass analyser.

(31) According to an embodiment, one or more ion mobility devices may be provided prior to the ion sampling inlet and/or inside one of the vacuum chambers.

(32) Although the preferred embodiment relates to an embodiment comprising three vacuum chambers wherein the mass analyser is located in the third mass analyser, other embodiments are contemplated comprising two, four, five or more than five vacuum chambers. An embodiment is contemplated wherein the first RF ion guide is located in the first vacuum chamber but the mass analyser is located in a third and/or fourth vacuum chamber. For example, a quadrupole-Time of Flight mass analyser may be provided wherein the quadrupole mass filter is provided in the third vacuum chamber and the miniature Time of Flight mass analyser is provided in a fourth vacuum chamber downstream of the third vacuum chamber.

(33) According to an embodiment one or more further vacuum chambers may be provided upstream and/or downstream of the first vacuum chamber and/or the second vacuum chamber and/or the third vacuum chamber.

(34) According to an embodiment the first vacuum pump pumping the first vacuum chamber may have an increased pumping speed of up to 20 m.sup.3/hr.

(35) According to an embodiment the first vacuum chamber may be pumped using a booster port of a turbomolecular pump.

(36) According to an embodiment the second vacuum pump pumping the second vacuum chamber and/or the third vacuum pump pumping the third vacuum chamber may have an increased pumping speed of up to 100, 150 or 200 L/s.

(37) According to an embodiment if four or more vacuum chambers are provided then a splitflow turbomolecular pump may be utilised having two or more interstages. The second vacuum chamber may be pumped by a first interstage of the turbomolecular pump and the third vacuum chamber may be pumped by a second interstage of the turbomolecular pump. The fourth or final vacuum chamber may be pumped by the high vacuum stage of the turbomolecular pump.

(38) Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.