Patent ID: 6433334
Filing Date: 2002-08-13
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
An ion mobility spectrometer comprising:an ionization chamber for ionizing a substance to form a gaseous ion mixture; an ion gate that can be electrically switched between blocked and open states to briefly pass a quantity of the ion mixture along a drift path; a drift chamber forming the drift path with an electrical drift field running along a drift chamber axis in which the ions of the ion mixture are separated according to their ion mobility; and an ion collector connected with signal electronics to detect separated ions, both the ion gate and the ion collector having a potential-conducting surface; wherein at least one of the following is true: the potential-conducting surface of the ion gate is on at least one wall between the ionization and drift chambers and runs substantially parallel to said at least one wall; and the potential-conducting surface of the ion collector is on at least one wall of the drift chamber and runs substantially parallel to said at least one wall.