Mobility based apparatus and methods using dispersion characteristics, sample fragmentation, and/or pressure control to improve analysis of a sample

1. A method of sample analysis comprising,

A. varying at least first and second sample processing conditions, over a first and second plurality of values, respectively,

B. detecting an ion intensity of a sample flowed through a field over the first and second plurality of values,

C. organizing the detected ion intensity for each of the sample processing conditions in a first three-dimensional representation having at least two dimensions of the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the first and second sample processing conditions, and

D. analyzing the sample based, at least in part, on at least a portion of the first three-dimensional representation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes Vrf.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes Vcomp.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes field strength.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes pressure applied to the sample in a flow channel.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising, performing steps A–D under a first flow channel pressure, wherein the first flow channel pressure is substantially constant.

7. The method of claim 6 comprising,

performing steps A–D under a second flow channel pressure, substantially constant and different from the first flow channel pressure,

generating a second three-dimensional representation at the second flow channel pressure, and

basing the analyzing of step D, at least in part, on a portion of the second three-dimensional representation.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the first and second flow channel pressures is below atmospheric pressure.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes temperature in a flow channel.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes frequency of a Vrf.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes duty cycle of a field voltage.

12. The method of claim 1 including, representing changes in value of at least one of the first, second and a third dimension of the three-dimensional representation as a change in at least one of gray scale, black and white patterning, color, and color saturation.

13. The method of claim 1 including, representing the first dimension as a length, the second dimension as a width, and a third dimension of the three-dimensional representation as a height.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first three-dimensional representation is a dispersion plot.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first three-dimensional representation comprises an x-axis for field voltage, a y-axis for Vcomp, and varying aspects of a color-related feature for ion intensity.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first three-dimensional representation includes an x-axis corresponding to field voltage, a y-axis corresponding to field compensation voltage, and a z-axis corresponding to ion intensity.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing includes comparing at least a portion of the first three-dimensional representation to at least a portion of a library of stored three-dimensional representations corresponding to known species.

18. The method of claim 1 including fragmenting the sample.

19. The method of claim 15 including altering a pressure in a flow channel to cause the fragmentation.

20. The method of claim 1 including,

determining the first three dimensional representation for the sample in both a fragmented and unfragmented state, and

analyzing the sample based, at least in part, on a first three-dimensional representation of both the fragmented and unfragmented sample states.

21. The method of claim 1 comprising, performing steps A–D for positive ions of the sample.

22. The method of claim 21 comprising,

performing steps A–D for negative ions of the sample,

generating a second three-dimensional representation for the negative ions of the sample, and

basing the analyzing of step D, at least in part, on both the first and second three-dimensional representations.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing of step D includes performing pattern recognition on the first three-dimensional representation to analyze a species in the sample.

24. The method of claim 1 comprising, separating a first subset of ions of the sample away from a second subset of ions of the sample,

performing steps A–D on the first subset of ions to generate the first three-dimensional representation,

performing steps A–D on the second subset of ions to generate a second three-dimensional representation, and

basing the analyzing of step D, at least in part, on both the first and second three-dimensional representations.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes an amount of doping flowing through the field.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first processing condition includes the composition of a carrier gas flowed through the field.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second processing condition includes a Vcomp.

28. A system for analyzing a sample comprising:

an ion mobility based analyzer performing functions including:

A. varying at least first and second sample processing conditions, over a first and second plurality of values, respectively,

B. detecting an ion intensity of a sample flowed through a field over the first and second plurality of values,

C. organizing the detected ion intensity for each of the sample processing conditions in a first three-dimensional representation having at least two dimensions of the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the first and second sample processing conditions, and

D. analyzing the sample based, at least in part, on at least a portion of the first three-dimensional representation.

29. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes Vrf.

30. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes Vcomp.

31. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes field strength.

32. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes temperature in a flow channel.

33. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes frequency of a Vrf.

34. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes duty cycle of a field voltage.

35. The system of claim 28 , wherein the first processing condition includes an amount of doping flowing through the field.