The interaction between step arrays and the terrace reconstruction of vicinal surfaces was evaluated by using reflection high-energy electron diffraction methods to measure the variation, with misorientation angle, of the regularity of the steps and of the stability of the reconstruction. It was demonstrated that, in the case of (001) GaAs surfaces, the configurations for which the mean terrace width was a multiple of the reconstruction unit mesh (and which were predicted to be energy minima) were sharp optima for both the step arrays and for the reconstructions. At a few minutes of arc from such optima, the steps modified the domain of existence and the coherence length of the reconstruction, while the reconstruction modified the step arrangement. This was suggested to constitute clear experimental evidence that such configurations also minimized the mutual frustration of step arrays and terrace reconstruction.

L.Leprince, F.Houzay, J.M.Moison: Physical Review B, 1993, 48[19], 14683-6