Space-charge-dominated mass spectrometry ion sources: Modeling and sensitivity

The factors determining the sensitivity of space-charge-dominated (SCD) unipolar ion sources, such as electrospray (ESP) and corona atmospheric pressure ionization (API) have been studied theoretically. The most important parameters are the ion density and ion drift time in the vicinity of the sampling orifice. These are obtained by solving a system of differential equations, "the space-charge problem." For some simple geometries, analytical solutions are known. For a more realistic "needle-in-can" geometry, a solution to the space-charge problem was obtained using a finite-element method. The results illustrate some general characteristics of SCD ion sources. It is shown that for typical operating conditions the minimum voltage required to overcome the space-charge effect in corona API or ESP ion sources constitutes a dominant or significant fraction of total applied voltage. Further, the electric field and the ion density in the region of the ion-sampling orifice as well as the ion residence time in the source are determined mainly by the space charge. Finally, absolute sensitivities of corona API ion sources were calculated by using a geometry-independent treatment of space charge.