The (111) surfaces were observed at about 470C, after quenching from 1100C, by using high-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy. The dynamic motion of Si adatoms in the metastable stacking-fault half cells of 11 x 11 and 13 x 13 dimer-adatom stacking-fault structures were closely investigated. On these stacking-fault half cells, the adatoms continually changed their positions at 470. Most of the interior adatoms escaped from the stacking-fault half-cells more easily than did the corner or center adatoms. This indicated that the interior adatoms hardly contributed to the stability of n x n dimer-adatom stacking-fault structures.

K.Kumamoto, T.Hoshino, K.Kokubun, T.Ishimaru, I.Ohdomari: Physical Review B, 1995, 52[15], 10784-7