The formation of 5 x 5 and 2 x 1 reconstructions of (111) was monitored during homoepitaxial growth. It was shown that these metastable reconstructions were induced by domain boundaries. This was demonstrated by comparing growth structures, in the sub-monolayer regime, on substrates with differing domain densities. All of the islands which nucleated on a domain boundary-free substrate were found to exhibit a 7 x 7 structure, while equal fractions of 7 x 7, 5 x 5 and 2 x 1 were observed in islands on a substrate with large numbers of domain boundaries.

Y.N.Yang, E.D.Williams: Physical Review B, 1995, 51[19], 13238-43