Patent ID: 8866076

Claim:
An ion trap device, comprising: a containment region for containing ions; a plurality of electrodes encompassing the containment region, wherein the plurality of electrodes are arranged in a regular pattern on a surface of a structure enclosing the containment region, and wherein the containment region for containing ions corresponds substantially to a volume encompassed by the structure; a plurality of quadrupoles, each quadrupole formed from a set of four of the electrodes positioned on the surface of the structure; and alternating electrodes of the plurality of electrodes configured for application of a first RF voltage, and electrodes interspersed between the alternating electrodes configured for application of a second RF voltage, the first and second RF voltage being of equal amplitude and opposite polarity at a point in time, neighboring electrodes of the plurality of electrodes being maintained at opposite phases, the plurality of electrodes configured to form a potential barrier for repelling the ions in the containment region from the surface of the structure; and wherein each of the plurality of quadrupoles is configured as a mass filter for selective ejection of the ions from or injection into the containment region in a predetermined ion mass-to-charge window, a frequency of the first RF and the second RF voltage applied to the electrodes in each of the plurality of quadrupoles corresponding to a characteristic frequency associated with the particular ion mass-to-charge window.