Abstract
The equilibrium and nonequilibrium behavior of the step structure of vicinal Si(111) surfaces has been studied in synchrotron x-ray-scattering experiments. Below the 7×7 reconstruction transition temperature of 1100 K, the surface phase separates into macroscopic (111) facets larger than 0.4×0.1 μm 2 and stepped regions with increased step density. At temperatures above the transition up to 1275 K where there is significant sublimation, the surface is thermally rough, characterized by a uniform step lattice with an algebraically decaying correlation function. The algebraic decay exponent η was measured to be 0.18±0.13, in agreement with the theory of entropically interacting steps
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