The atomic structure of the c(2 x 2) reconstruction of the C-terminated 3C-(001) surface was unambiguously determined by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy and surface core-level resolved photo-electron diffraction studies. This surface was found to consist, uniquely and uniformly, of anomalous bridge-bonded C dimers with a C-C bond length of 0.122nm. An extensive angle-resolved photo-emission study clearly identified 2 occupied π-state bands which were due to the surface-normal and surface-parallel π-orbitals of the triple-bonded C dimers. This provided an electronic explanation for the stability of this unique surface reconstruction.

Atomic and Electronic-Band Structures of Anomalous Carbon Dimers on 3C-SiC(001)-c(2 x 2) H.W.Yeom, M.Shimomura, J.Kitamura, S.Hara, K.Tono, I.Matsuda, B.S.Mun, W.A.R.Huff, S.Kono, T.Ohta, S.Yoshida, H.Okushi, K.Kajimura, C.S.Fadley: Physical Review Letters, 1999, 83[8], 1640-3