MEMS mass spectrometers: the next wave of miniaturization

Abstract

This paper reviews mass spectrometers based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The MEMS approach to integration is first briefly described, and the difficulties of miniaturizing mass spectrometers are outlined. MEMS components for ionization and mass filtering are then reviewed, together with additional components for ion detection, vacuum pressure measurement and pumping. Mass spectrometer systems containing MEMS sub-components are then described, applications for miniaturized and portable systems are discussed, and challenges and opportunities are presented.

High pressure mass spectrometry of volatile organic compounds with ambient air buffer gas

“…Other miniature mass spectrometers have been developed for many applications including forensics, environmental monitoring, detection of explosives or chemical warfare agents, and clinical analyses . Two recent reviews cover miniature and portable mass spectrometers for these and other applications, as well as the future directions of MS miniaturization . While these small MS platforms represent significant developments, their portability and robustness are limited by the continued dependence upon relatively massive, expensive, and fragile vacuum system components.…”

“…[10] Two recent reviews cover miniature and portable mass spectrometers for these and other applications, as well as the future directions of MS miniaturization. [11,12] While these small MS platforms represent significant developments, their portability and robustness are limited by the continued dependence upon relatively massive, expensive, and fragile vacuum system components.…”

Exploration of Metal 3-D Printing Technologies for the Microfabrication of Freeform, Finely Featured, Mesoscaled Structures

“…Mass spectrometers (MS) are used to quantitatively determine the composition of a sample by ionizing the sample and using electrical and/or magnetic fields to sort the ions based on their mass-to-charge ratio [147]. For over thirty years, researchers have actively pursued the development of compact MS systems to be able to do, anywhere in-situ, the chemical analysis currently only feasible in brick-and-mortar labs [148], [149]. A significant portion of this research effort has focused in developing miniaturized electrical mass filters, i.e., devices that sort out ions using electric fields; examples of these devices include quadrupoles harmonics; (iv) the ion motion along the central axis is harmonic and the trajectory of trapped ions adopted in this design is the radial motion between the inner electrodes; (v) unlike the orbital trapped motion in the Orbitrap, the radial motion of the ions inside this advanced trap is one-dimensional, making possible to trap ions with almost no initial kinetic energy.…”

Microfluidics and Nanofluidics: Science, Fabrication Technology (From Cleanrooms to 3D Printing) and Their Application to Chemical Analysis by Battery-Operated Microplasmas-On-Chips

“…A brief list includes use of small volumes of sample and reagents (thus reducing cost per analysis and minimizing waste disposal); rapid sample processing; potential for automation (thus reducing cost); reduced risk of contamination; short analysis time (e.g., by increasing speed of separations); small footprint and light-weight thus enabling development of future portable microfluidic-based, portable micro-instruments that can be employed on-site or for personal use or for personal dosimetry; potential for massive parallelism (for high sample throughput); and overall, lower ownership and operating costs (vis-à-vis conventional, lab-sized systems). Application areas (to name but a few), include analytical chemistry, synthetic chemistry (including nanomaterials synthesis), microbiology, biotechnology, point-of-care diagnostics, drug delivery, immunoassays and medicine, health-monitoring and health-diagnostics, agriculture, food safety and environmental monitoring [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47].…”