By carrying out atomic-scale growth simulations of a GaAs(001)-β2(2 x 4) surface, It was found that the density of double As dimers evolves synchronously with the observed specular reflection high-energy electron-diffraction intensities in growth and after its interruption. At the same time, It was found that a step density did not even oscillate during growth. It was further shown that the structural transition of initial growing islands from a non-(2 x 4) structure to the β2(2 x 4) structure found previously could be detected in situ by specular reflection high-energy electron diffraction observation. The fast and slow recovery processes after growth interruption were identified, respectively, as the incorporation of Ga adatoms to surface structures, and the phase ordering of various domains consisting of the β2(2 x 4) structure. These results were related to a specular reflection high-energy electron diffraction intensity with the help of ab initio calculations.

Relevance of Surface Reconstruction to Specular RHEED Intensity on GaAs(001). M.Itoh, T.Ohno: Physical Review B, 2000, 62, 7219-28