# An inexpensive biasing system for use in electrostatic steering of ions

## TL;DR

This paper presents a low-cost, compact electronic biasing device capable of superposing multiple high-voltage biases for ion beam steering, with digital control and potential for higher voltage operation.

## Contribution

The authors introduce a novel, inexpensive biasing system with digital control, suitable for ion beam alignment in mass spectrometry applications.

## Key findings

- Device can superpose 8 bias voltages up to ±96 V on a 5 kV main voltage.
- System costs less than $500 USD to build.
- Design can be extended for operation up to 20 kV with higher isolation components.

## Abstract

We introduce a compact design for an electronic device capable of superposing 8 bias voltages up to $\pm$96~V on a voltage of up to 5~kV. Such a device has been implemented to provide biasing of a beam steerer-shifter system for use in aligning an ion beam with the optical axis of a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph. The device features a 16-bit digital interface both to set and to monitor the applied voltages, and can be built for less than \$500~USD. By selection of higher isolation components, the design concept can be extended to allow operation up to 20~kV.