Scanning tunnelling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction methods were used to investigate As-rich (2 x 4)/c(2 x 8) reconstructed (001) surfaces which had been produced under various de-capping conditions. The scanning tunnelling microscopic images showed that heating (450C, 600s) produced a surface which contained a high density of small islands. Heating to 450C for longer times permitted larger islands to grow at the expense of smaller islands, but the corresponding low-energy electron diffraction patterns did not exhibit any obvious changes. Analogous studies, performed at 420C, gave similar results. It was concluded that the observed re-growth of (001) was common to all de-capping processes.

Y.N.Yang, Y.S.Luo, J.H.Weaver, L.T.Florez, C.J.Palmstrom: Applied Physics Letters, 1992, 61[16], 1930-2