Characterization and optimization of a rectilinear ion trap made from printed circuit board material

Matthew Thomas McNicholas, Purdue University

Abstract

This thesis covers the design, construction, calibration, and testing of rectilinear ion traps constructed from printed circuit board substrates. The specific substrates used were Teflon, and FR4. The goal of this research was to develop and characterize PCB ion traps, for the purpose of making a faster to manufacture, more cost effective trap, that requires less power than the currently used ceramic based ion trap. The Teflon and FR4 RITs were manufactured by PCB companies then assembled, and tested at Purdue University. The goal for the development of the ion traps was to achieve peak consistency and unit resolution. The performance criteria were chosen in order to compare the performance of the PCB RIT to the ceramic and steel. The experiment was conducted using Orcad Layout to design the Teflon RIT, and a mini12 to conduct the experiment. The important finding of this thesis was the FR4 PCB RIT was able to achieve the desired performance, while being less expensive. The Teflon RIT was slightly more expensive than the FR4 but still less expensive than the Ceramic trap. The Teflon trap initially had good performance; however, the performance degraded over the course of data collection.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Denton, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Electrical engineering

COinS