The adsorption and diffusion of Ge adatoms, near to the DB step on the hydrogenated (100) surface, were studied by using a first-principles total-energy method. The energy barrier for a Ge adatom of the upper terrace, which was bound to the step edge, was 0.6eV. It was suggested that Si and Ge adatoms behaved in different ways on the hydrogenated (100) surface.

Chemical Differences in Surface Diffusion - Si and Ge Adatoms at the DB Step on the Hydrogenated Si(100) Surface S.Jeong, A.Oshiyama: Physical Review B, 1999, 60[16], R11269-72