Structure of the 3C-SiC(100) 5x2 Surface Reconstruction Investigated by Synchrotron Radiation Based Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction

Abstract

In order to give experimental insights on the atomic structure of the Si atomic wires developing on the β-SiC(100) surface, we use synchrotron radiation-based x-ray diffraction at grazing incidence to study a network of such atomic lines in a 5x2 surface array. Our results lead to an accurate surface and sub-surface structure determination evidencing a structure in agreement with a two adlayer symmetric dimer reconstruction. This atomic structure is significantly different from the 3x2 surface structure, giving new insights on the Si atomic lines stability.