This invention is related to the invention shown and described in U.S. Ser. No. 11/802,196 (Northrop Grumman Case No. 001283-078) entitled “Miniature Mass Spectrometer For The Analysis Of Chemical And Biological Solid Samples” filed in the name of Carl B. Freidhoff, the present inventor, on May 21, 2007.
This invention is also related to the invention shown and described in U.S. Ser. No. 11/260,106 (Northrop Grumman case No. 000810-078) entitled “A MEMs Mass Spectrometer”, filed in the name of Carl B. Freidhoff, on Oct. 28, 2005.
The teachings of the above cross-referenced patent applications are intended to be incorporated herein by reference for any and all purposes.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to solid state miniature mass spectrometers, and more particularly to a miniature mass spectrometer test system for the analysis of biological small molecules such as toxins, spores or cells by a nanoelectrospray fed into a vacuum.
2. Description of Related Art
A mass spectrometer is a device that permits rapid analysis of an unknown sample of material to be analyzed. A small amount of the sample is introduced into the mass spectrometer where it is ionized, focused and accelerated by means of magnetic and/or electric fields toward a detector array. Different ionized constituents of the sample travel along different paths to the detector array in accordance with their mass to charge ratios. The outputs from the individual detector elements of the array provide an indication of the sample's constituents.
Industrial mass spectrometers are generally large, heavy and expensive, and therefore, a need exists for a miniature, relatively inexpensive light-weight solid state mass spectrometer for use by the military, homeland security personnel, hazmat crews, industrial concerns and the like to test for the presence of dangerous substances in the immediate environment.
A typical miniature mass spectrometer is shown and described in the present assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,115 entitled “Solid State Micro-Machined Mass Spectrograph Universal Gas Detection Sensor”, issued to Carl B. Freidhoff et al. on Jan. 31, 1995. Basically such a device is comprised of two semiconductors substrates joined together by an epoxy seal. Each half includes intricate cavities formed by a lithograph process. Although the device meets the requirements for small size, due to the depth and intricacy of the cavities, the lithographic process is extremely expensive. Further, under vacuum conditions, the epoxy seal tends to add gas into the device thus contaminating the readings obtained and thereby limiting its sensitivity.
In the above-referenced U.S. application Ser. No. 11/260,106, entitled “A MEMs Mass Spectrometer”, there is disclosed an improved MEMs mass spectrometer for analyzing a gas sample.
The present invention is directed to the analysis of biological small molecules by a device consisting of a miniature mass spectrometer test system which is adapted to operate with a minimum of support equipment and includes a nanoelectrospray of a test sample into a vacuum ionizing chamber. The vacuum ionizing chamber is affixed to the front end of the mass spectrometer apparatus and vaporizes a fluid i.e. liquid sample into an atomized spray without heat and drying gas. The vacuum environment comprises an external electrospray-ionization chamber and provides a nanospray fluid flow rate, which is adapted to provide a sufficient number of ions for detection without requiring a large pump or power expenditure. The mass spectrometer includes a differentially pumped front end, which allows the mass spectrometer to sample a higher pressure regime and analyze ions formed at a lower pressure.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention there is provided a mass imaging spectrometer test system for analyzing biological small molecules of a liquid sample, comprising: an evacuated liquid sample input chamber including apparatus for vaporizing and ionizing a liquid sample being fed into the chamber; mass spectrometer apparatus connected to the input chamber and having an ionized vapor input port for receiving ionized vapor of the liquid sample from the input chamber, and wherein the spectrometer includes: a collimation chamber having a vapor collimation sub-assembly connected to the input port and having at least one vacuum pumping aperture for evacuating and drawing said ionized vapor from the evacuated chamber into the collimation chamber; a repeller member located adjacent the vapor collimation sub-assembly; an ionizer sub-assembly located adjacent the repeller member for further ionizing the ionized vapor; an ion optics chamber located adjacent the ionizer sub-assembly; at least one evacuated ion filter and separation chamber located adjacent the ion optics chamber and including means for generating an electromagnetic field therein for separating ions therein by their respective mass/charge ratio; and, a detector array for detecting ions separated in the mass filter and ion separation chamber and located a predetermined distance therefrom by an intermediate drift space region.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided below. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific example, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention is provided by way of illustration only, since changes and modifications coming within this scope the spirit of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description provided hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are provided by way of illustration only, and thus are not meant to be considered in a limiting sense, and wherein:
Referring now to the drawing figures wherein like reference characters refer to like parts, the block diagram of
Electrospray of a liquid input sample is performed at reduced pressure (vacuum) in the subject invention so as to dissolve large molecules of biological materials such as toxins, spores or cells. Electrospray allows multiple charges to be placed on large biological molecules so as to bring down the effective mass of the ion and with antibody capture or other clean-up techniques to remove background clutter. Thus, the small mass spectrometer of the subject invention is used to sense and separate out different toxins.
Considering now the invention in greater detail, ions produced in the electrospray-ionizer chamber 12 are fed into the collimator 18 which is differentially pumped by a pumping arrangement shown in
The mass spectrometer apparatus 10 of the subject invention is fabricated in an elongated semiconductor chip as shown in
Electromagnetic field generation apparatus 281 and 282 associated with the ion separation chamber elements 261 and 262 and the drift space regions 271 and 272 generate orthogonal magnetic and electric fields which operate to separate ions passing through the upper and lower portions 261 and 262 of the ionization separation chamber and drift space portions 271 and 272 and strike the detector array 30 which are comprised of multiple detector elements. The readout chip 32 converts detected analog signals to digital form which is then fed via a set of signal leads 34 to a digital signal processor 36 which generates output signals for a readout in the form of a visible display 38.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Although small molecules of a liquid sample will be vaporized in the interior of the electrospray-ionizer chamber 12, this operation can be carried out in a pressure regime that can be as high as atmospheric pressure but is preferably carried out in a vacuum. To this end, a vacuum port 31 is shown located in the front wall FW of the chamber 12 to accommodate a vacuum pump shown, for example in
Furthermore a differential vacuum pumping scheme is provided in the collimator section 182 of the spectrometer 10 and as such includes four small circular openings 351, 352, 353 and 354 which are respectively coupled, for example, to pumps 481, 482, 485 and 486 as shown in
Thus what has been shown described is a structure for use in a miniature mass spectrometer in sampling biological small molecule ions that are vaporized and ionized through the use of nanoelectrospray in a vacuum.
The foregoing detailed description merely illustrates the principles of the invention. It will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within its spirit and scope.
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