Adsorption of Au at 800 degrees C results in a dramatic change of the regul
ar step morphology of 4 degrees vicinal Si(001): the surface decomposes int
o areas which are perfectly flat with a (001)-orientation and (119) facets.
Extremely straight superterraces with a length limited only by the size of
the sample (here 4 mm) and a width ranging from 400 nm up to 4 mu m are fo
rmed by massive Si mass transport. The extreme aspect ratio of 1:10 000 of
this submicron structures is attributed to a localized nucleation. The nucl
eation and formation process during Au adsorption has been studied using lo
w energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and shows a strongly anisotropic growth
with a speed of propagation of the superterraces of up to 100 mu m/s. Prop
ortional to the Au coverage the width and area of (001) terraces increases,
The steps of the vicinal surface are accumulated in irregular step bunches
. With further increasing Au coverage the step bunches are transformed into
well defined (119) facets. Light diffraction and microscopy have been used
to characterize ex situ the macroscopic Large scale features of the facet
structure. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.