Abstract
A method for monitoring a broad mass range (>100 masses) in a single thermal desorption experiment using a conventional quadrupole mass spectrometer and microcomputer is described in this article. This approach is used to eliminate the possibility of overlooking one or more reaction products. Typical results obtained using the experimental scheme described herein are presented for the reaction of cycloheptatriene on W(100)–(5×1)-C, and are compared with thermal desorption data collected using a more conventional configuration. While the mass scanning system provides useful qualitative information regarding desorption products, conventional experiments are still necessary for extracting results of a quantitative nature.