Patent ID: 8716655

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: an ion injector having an inlet and an outlet; a micro-corona ionizer positioned between the inlet and the outlet of the ion injector; a drift and separation channel having a first end and a second end, the first end being coupled to outlet of the ion injector, the drift and separation channel including: a first channel wall having a first set of separation electrodes thereon comprising a plurality of electrically coupled individual separation electrodes with resistors electrically coupled between one or more pairs of individual electrodes, the first set of separation electrodes being coupled to a first direct current (DC) voltage source, and a second channel wall having a second set of separation electrodes thereon comprising a plurality of electrically coupled individual separation electrodes with resistors electrically coupled between one or more pairs of individual electrodes, the second set of separation electrodes being spaced apart from the first set of separation electrodes and coupled to a second DC voltage source, wherein the first and second DC voltage sources are the only voltage sources coupled to the separation electrodes; and an ion detector coupled to the second end of the ion separation and drift channel.