Phase transition between (2 x 1) and c(8 x 8) reconstructions observed on the Si(001) surface around 600C

Abstract

The Si(001) surface subjected to different treatments in ultrahigh vacuum molecular beam epitaxy chamber for SiO${}_2$ film decomposition has been in situ investigated by reflected high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and high resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). A transition between (2 x 1) and (4 x 4) RHEED patterns was observed. The (4 x 4) pattern arose at T <~600C during sample posttreatment cooling. The reconstruction was observed to be reversible. The c(8 x 8) structure was revealed by STM at room temperature on the same samples. The (4 x 4) patterns have been evidenced to be a manifestation of the c(8 x 8) surface structure in RHEED. The phase transition appearance has been found to depend on thermal treatment conditions and sample cooling rate.

5 pages, 5 figures. To appear in JETP Letters (Pis'ma v ZhETF, 10 September 2010)

References in corpus (2)

• Nucleation of Ge quantum dots on the Si(001) surface
• Structure and peculiarities of the (8 x n)-type Si(001) surface prepared in a molecular-beam epitaxy chamber: a scanning tunneling microscopy study

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