The thermal evolution of the reconstruction and step structure of Ge(111) surfaces misoriented by 6° and 10° toward the [1¯21] and [2¯1¯1] directions was measured using low-energy electron diffraction. On all the surfaces studied, except 10° toward [1¯21], a weak (2 x 2) ordering occurred in the same temperature range (300 to 600C) as on the flat Ge(111) surface. However the full c(2 x 8) reconstruction of the flat surface did not occur, or appeared with very weak intensity, on the vicinal surfaces. At high temperatures, all the vicinal surfaces contain single-layer-height steps of density consistent with the miscut angle. The single-layer-height steps were stable to room temperature for misorientation angles up to 9.8° on the surfaces misoriented toward the [2¯1¯1] direction. Between 9.8° and 11.4° miscut, these surfaces facet to expose a (5 x 2)-reconstructed (322) facet at ≈440C. Surfaces misoriented toward the [1¯21] direction underwent a step doubling transition over the same temperature range that the (2 x 2) ordering occurred. The low-temperature structure consisted of a mixture of single- and double-layer-height steps. Observations on the structure of laser-quenched surfaces were also reported

Step Structure and Surface Reconstruction on Vicinal Ge(111) Surfaces. T.M.Jung, R.J.Phaneuf, E.D.Williams: Surface Science, 1991, 254[1-3], 235-50