By using scanning tunnelling microscopy, the (313)-(12 x 1) surface was found, like (111)-(7 x 7), to be another stable elemental semiconductor surface having a metallic nature. On the basis of the details which were revealed by high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopic images, an atomically rough model which involved trenches and various building entities was proposed for the surface structure. The common features of major stable Si surfaces, and the similarities and differences between these surfaces and their Ge equivalents, were considered with regard to the driving forces controlling the reconstruction of elemental semiconductor surfaces.

Si (313) 12x1: Another Metallic Stable Surface of Silicon Having a Complex Reconstructed Layer. Z.Gai, R.G.Zhao, T.Sakurai, W.S.Yang: Physical Review B, 2001, 63[8], 085301 (6pp)