Performance Characteristics of a MEMS Quadrupole Mass Filter With Square Electrodes: Experimental and Simulated Results

Size reduction in quadrupole mass spectrometers (QMSs) is an ongoing requirement driven by the needs of space exploration, portable, and covert monitoring applications. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology provides a method of achieving this size reduction. A quadrupole mass filter (QMF) is one component of a QMS and is suitable for microfabrication. MEMS manufacturing techniques are more suitable to the production of rectilinear electrodes, instead of the more widely used circular electrodes. Present understanding of the performance characteristics of rectilinear electrodes and the dependence of these characteristics on electrode geometry are not well documented. In this paper, we report on the performance characteristics of a square-electrode QMF. Both the predicted performances obtained by computer simulation and experimental data are presented for operation in stability zone 1 (0.236, 0.706) and zone 3 (3.16, 3.23). A comparison between these results and the simulated data for equivalent devices constructed using hyperbolic and circular electrodes for operation in zone 1 is also made. This comparison demonstrates that, although the field produced by square electrodes is far from the “ideal,” it is still possible to achieve useful filtering action. Our results also show that, for operation in zone 3, performance comparable with that of hyperbolic and circular electrodes operating in zone 1 is achievable.