Integrated desorption mass spectrometry: A new technique for surface chemistry

Integrated desorption mass spectrometry is a simple yet powerful technique for studying the gas-phase products of complex surface chemical reactions. Data is collected by summing a series of complete mass spectra obtained with a quadrupole mass spectrometer controlled by a personal-computer-based multichannel scalar card. Signal-to-background levels are extremely high as the spectra are recorded and summed during the entire desorption process. Accurately measured cracking patterns can be used to determine the chemical identity of individual compounds or mixtures of desorbing species. The desorption of trace impurities can also be detected readily. The advantages of this technique as well as several examples are discussed.