Patent ID: 8384025

Claim:
A device for separating, enriching and detecting ions, comprising: a gas tube for containing a gas flow having an uniform velocity; an ion source for producing at least one type of ions into the gas tube with the gas flow; a plurality of electrodes, disposed in the gas tube, and applied with a plurality of voltages, respectively, so as to form inside the gas tube at least one region having an electric field along the axis of the gas tube, such that an electric force exerting to the ions when the ions flows through the at least one region is in a direction opposite to the gas flow, whereby ions with a specific mobility are immobilized and enriched therein by the balance of its electro-drifting velocity with an axial flow velocity of the gas flow; an ion detector; and an ion extraction channel configured such that the enriched specific ions are brought out of the gas tube from its wall and led to the ion detector through the ion extraction channel.