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Initial stages of Si epitaxial growth on vicinal Si(001) substrates were investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy. For a growth temperature of about 750 K it was found that initial growth occurs almost exclusively at one of the two nonequivalent types of step edge. This leads to the formation of a single-domain surface with an array of evenly spaced straight steps with biatomic height. This structure can be preserved by quenching the sample to room temperature.
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Hoeven et al. (1989) studied this question.
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