# A Hybrid Vacuum Flange RF Oscillator for Low-Cost Mass Spectrometry

## TL;DR

A new low-cost RF oscillator is built into a vacuum flange for mass spectrometers, reducing space and cost for ion manipulation.

## Contribution

A hybrid vacuum flange RF oscillator is introduced that integrates circuitry and maintains vacuum integrity.

## Key findings

- The device maintains vacuum pressures below 10–6 Torr while generating RF waveforms.
- The oscillator's ion transmission performance matches commercial RF supplies.
- The design reduces space and cost for nonmass-selective ion manipulation.

## Abstract

In this communication we report the construction of a
printed circuit
board which mounts directly to the vacuum chamber of a mass spectrometer
and produces the RF waveforms needed by many nonmass-selective devices
such as ion guides and ion funnels. Our device is designed to replace
a standard KF40 flange, can maintain vacuum chamber pressures of less
than 10–6 Torr, and contains the circuitry of the
open-source Wisconsin Oscillator RF power supply to generate RF waveforms
of 1–4 MHz and up to 200 Vp-p. In this iteration
of the Wisconsin Oscillator, we also introduce a variable resistor
to control the output RF amplitude and show that its ion transmission
capabilities are identical to those provided by commercial RF power
supplies. With this new implementation we have greatly reduced the
space and monetary requirements for driving nonmass-selective ion
manipulation devices, which we expect to be advantageous to those
developing low-cost and/or portable mass spectrometry systems.