The primary goal of this project is to enhance the resolution and sensitivity of mass spectrometers by two or three orders of magnitude. A secondary goal is to reduce power consumption. Combined, these goals will lead to the development of a portable mass spectrometer with greater sensitivity than current, large mass spectrometers. This will allow the quantitative analysis of low concentration compounds with little or no sample preparation. This mass spectrometer could be widely used for environmental assessment and for many other applications.
Three innovations will accomplish these goals. The first is the use of a cascading DC/RF and RF-only quadrupole mass filter. This new filter will give excellent mass resolution. It is also much less sensitive to mechanical tolerances, so small filters can be built, and this leads to a large reduction in electrical power requirements.
The second innovation is the use of an integrated Faraday cup/VLSI amplifier detector. Unconventional CMOS design leads to a single stage dc current gains of 100,000,000. Using extremely low biasing currents, differential and narrow frequency ban operation will result also in significant improvement of the signal to noise ratio. This detector will detect ion currents 1,000 times smaller than the conventional electron multiplier detectors, and the performance of the VLSI detector should be much more stable.
The third innovation is the addition of AC modulation to the detector circuitry. This eliminates noise due to DC drift, thereby greatly improving the signal-to-noise ratio. Results of this research may give the University of Wyoming a competitive edge for obtaining additional funding for future research. Several government agencies may be interested in expanding our results. Results of the proposed research may also generate a significant interest in the private sector. Several branches of our economy may be interested in portable mass spectrometers including the pharmaceutical industry, the environmental remediation industry, the semiconductor industry, the petroleum industry, and the mining industry.
