LEEM study of island decay on Si(1 1 0)

Laser texturing enables the observation of island decays on the ‘1 × 1’ high temperature surface of Si(1 1 0) by low energy electron microscopy. At temperatures above the phase transition (T = 790–980 °C), the decay of the island areas exhibits a nonlinear dependence on time indicative of surface diffusion limited mass transport. The aspect ratios of the islands during the decay show a weak temperature dependence despite the fact that surface is anisotropic. We have obtained the activation energy of mass transport, the kink energy, step energy, and step stiffness for Si(1 1 0).