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A new miniature coaxial ion trap mass analyzer with a rectilinear ion guide has been constructed using a combination of planar and cylindrical electrodes. The results reported here focus on characterizing the performance of the rectilinear ion guide and simplified toroidal ion trap components. The simplified toroidal ion trap was found to have an ion capacity in excess of 105 ions and mass spectral resolution of 0.5–0.6 when used as a mass analyzer. The ion storage efficiency within the toroidal trapping region was evaluated and found the stored ion population decreased exponentially with storage time. Ion losses depended slightly on the stored βz condition. Ion losses within the toroidal region are attributed primarily to field instabilities at the intersection point of the two components while charge exchange reactions were observed but considered a minor loss mechanism. The ability to mass selectively ejection ions of a specific mass from the toroidal trapping region was characterized and found to approach 100 % efficiency under appropriate ejection conditions. 

A large aspect ratio (AR) leads to higher ion capacity in miniaturized ion trap mass spectrometers. The AR of an ion trap represents the ratio between an extended trapping dimension and the characteristic trapping dimension. In contrast to linear and rectilinear traps, changing the AR of a toroidal ion trap(TorIT) results in changes to the degree of curvature and shape of the trapping potential, and hence, on performance as a mass analyzer. SIMION simulations show that higher-order terms in the trapping potential vary strongly for small and moderate AR values (below ~10), with the effects asymptotically flattening for larger AR values. Because of the asymmetry in electrode geometry, the trapping center does not coincide with the geometric center of the trap, and this displacement also varies with AR. For instance, in the asymmetric TorIT, the saddle point in the trapping potential and the geometric trap center differ from þ0.6 to 0.4 mm depending on AR. Ion secular frequencies also change with the AR. Whereas ions in the simplified TorIT have stable trajectories for any value of AR, ions in the asymmetric TorIT become unstable at large AR values. Variations in high-order terms, the trapping center, and secular frequencies with AR are a unique feature of toroidal traps, and require significant changes in trap design and operation as the AR is changed.