| Abstract: | The present disclosure is directed to an ion mobility drift tube
fabricated using flex-circuit technology in which every other drift
electrode is on a different layer of the flex-circuit and each drift
electrode partially overlaps the adjacent electrodes on the other layer.
This results in a self-shielding effect where the drift electrodes
themselves shield the interior of the drift tube from unwanted
electro-magnetic noise. In addition, this drift tube can be manufactured
with an integral flex-heater for temperature control. This design will
significantly improve the noise immunity, size, weight, and power
requirements of hand-held ion mobility systems such as those used for
explosive detection. |