Kinetics of dimer-adatom-stacking-fault reconstruction on laser-quenched Si(111) surfaces

Nucleation and growth kinetics of dimer-adatom-stacking-fault (DAS) structu res on laser-quenched Si(1 1 1) surfaces have been investigated by measurin g the time evolution of DAS domain size distribution at 320-440 degrees C w ith a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The time evolution of the distri bution suggests two different kinetics of DAS reconstruction At a very earl y stage (immediately after laser irradiation), the surface contains many vo ids and formation of DAS structures is quite rapid. In the next stage (afte r the disappearance of the voids), the DAS domains develop at constant nucl eation and growth rates in a measurable time scale. The temperature depende nce of nucleation and growth rates is discussed based on a typical theory o f the two-dimensional structural phase transition.