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We present equilibrium measurements of the dynamics of steps on Si(001) using temporal electron-diffraction spectroscopy. Activation energies and the rate limiting kinetics are identified for 950K<~T<~1130K. Unlike previous studies at higher temperatures, we can exclude evaporation and condensation of atoms or dimers from the step edges as the rate limiting process in this temperature regime. The possible reason for this difference is discussed in terms of a crossover from different rate-limiting kinetics.
As demonstrated with SPA-LEED and STM uniform height islands of preferred thickness form during the growth of Pb on Si(111). The islands form at temperatures T<250K and for fluxes F 1/60ML/sec which requires fast kinetics and balance between several atomic processes: diffusion towards the islands , diffusion to higher layers and preference for the atoms to remain on top of the preferred height islands. We have carried out SPA-LEED experiments to measure the barriers of the processes: we prepare an initial predominantly 5-step island height distribution and we deposit an additional 0.5ML Pb at different growth temperatures Tg to determine the transition to the next preferred height of 7-step islands (i.e. 2-step islands on top of the 5-step islands) with Spot Profile Analysis(SPA-LEED). We observe that 7-step island formation is possible above a minimum temperature Tg*=175K which indicates that the transfer of atoms from the surrounding region to the top of the islands is the main controlling process.