It was noted that, with increasing annealing temperature in ultra-high vacuum, the H-terminated Si(001) surface exhibited a 1 x 2 reconstruction at around 500C, the c(4 x 4) reconstruction between 580 and 750C, and a weak SiC transmission pattern at temperatures above 750C. The simultaneous disappearance of c(4 x 4), and the appearance of the SiC pattern, suggested that the c(4 x 4) reconstruction was associated with C contamination. The C concentration (2.5 x 1018/cm3) was insufficient for C atoms to be a component of the c(4 x 4) structure, and therefore the C was presumed to have some other effect. One consequence of this assumption was that C was not responsible for C-type defects.

K.Miki, K.Sakamoto, T.Sakamoto: Applied Physics Letters, 1997, 71[22], 3266-8