Structure and peculiarities of the (8 x n)-type Si(001) surface prepared in a molecular-beam epitaxy chamber: a scanning tunneling microscopy study

TL;DR

This study uses scanning tunneling microscopy to analyze the detailed surface structure of Si(001) prepared in a molecular-beam epitaxy chamber, revealing an (8 x n) reconstruction and proposing a structural model.

Contribution

It provides a detailed classification, measurement, and modeling of the Si(001)-(8 x n) surface structure after molecular-beam epitaxy preparation.

Findings

Identification of (8 x n) surface reconstruction.

Measurement of surface element dimensions.

Proposal of a structural model for the surface.

Abstract

A clean Si(001) surface thermally purified in an ultrahigh vacuum molecular-beam epitaxy chamber has been investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy. The morphological peculiarities of the Si(001) surface have been explored in detail. The classification of the surface structure elements has been carried out, the dimensions of the elements have been measured, and the relative heights of the surface relief have been determined. A reconstruction of the Si(001) surface prepared in the molecular-beam epitaxy chamber has been found to be (8 x n). A model of the Si(001)-(8 x n) surface structure is proposed.