Heteroepitaxy of germanium on Si(103) and stable surfaces of germanium

Despite the Si(103) surface having been reported as having a rough morphology and a thin disordered top layer, the present scanning tunneling microscopy investigation shows that germanium may grow on Si(103) as a heteroepitaxial layer, although with its surface completely faceted. On the surface of the germanium layer eight and only eight different facets can be found: Ge(103), (105), (216), (2 -1 6), (113), (1 -1 3), (15 3 23), and (15 -3 23). These are exactly the eight stable surfaces around (103) that have been reported, thus confirming that all stable germanium surfaces around (103) have already been found. Deposition of a thin layer of indium onto this highly faceted germanium surface followed by annealing may remove all the facets and make the surface consist of only Ge(103) 1×1-In terraces, thus showing that in the In/Ge system the territory of the (103) family extends very far in all directions: to (001), (113), and (15 3 23).