Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) techniques are important methods for the
determination of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of desorption processes or
decomposition reactions. A sample is heated with a temperature program β(t) = dT/dt (with
the temperature T usually being a linear function of the time t) and the partial pressures of
atoms and molecules evolving from the sample are measured, e.g. by mass spectrometry.
When experiments are performed using well-defined surfaces of single-crystalline samples in
a continuously pumped ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber then this experimental technique
is often also referred to as thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS).