An extensive review of the subject was presented. Experimental and theoretical results on atomic geometry, electronic states, phonon modes, and bonding were considered for cleaved, epitaxially grown, overlayer-covered, surfactant-mediated epitaxially grown and defect-induced reconstructed surfaces. The energetic aspects of reconstruction were analyzed using empirical and first-principles theoretical approaches. The subject was summarized under the headings of: theoretical methods, empirical tight-binding total-energy methods,  ab initio  approaches, LDA plane-wave pseudopotential methods for atomic geometry, calculation of electronic band structure, surface phonon calculations, reconstruction on clean semiconductor surfaces, clean cleaved (111) surfaces of diamond-structured semiconductors, MBE-grown (001) surfaces of diamond-structured semiconductors, the Si(113) surface, clean cleaved III-V (110) surfaces, MBE-grown III-V (001) surfaces, MBE-grown III-V (111) surfaces, adsorbate-induced surface reconstruction, adsorbate-covered diamond-structured semiconductors, adsorbate-covered zincblende-structured semiconductors, reconstruction on surfactant-mediated growth, epitaxial growth of Ge on Si (001), deposition of Si on GaAs 001), epitaxial growth of Fe on GaAs (001), reconstruction induced by surface defects, defects on Si (001), adatom vacancies on Si (111)-(7 x 7), anion vacancies on III-V (110), vacancies on III-V (111)

G.P.Srivastava: Reports on Progress in Physics, 1997, 60[5], 561-613