Surface structure of GaAs(2 5 11)

GaAs samples with orientations vicinal to (2 5 11) within 1degree were prepared by molecular beam epitaxy and analyzed in situ by scanning tunneling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, and reflection high-energy electron diffraction. In addition, first-principles electronic structure calculations were carried out. GaAs(2 5 11) is a stable surface whose orientation is located within the stereographic triangle. For a wide range of As-rich conditions a (1x1) reconstruction forms that is characterized by an inclined series of three As dimers and that fulfills the electron counting rule. The terrace size is limited only by the macroscopic off-orientation of the samples. The surface is perturbed by thin stripes of the nearby orientation (3 7 15). While the dangling bond densities of GaAs(2 5 11) and GaAs(3 7 15) are almost equal, GaAs(3 7 15) violates the electron counting rule. The analysis of this perturbation suggests that, in general, on semiconductor surfaces the gain in stability arising from the minimization of the number of dangling bonds is significantly greater than the gain arising from reaching a semiconducting ground state. Upon annealing of the samples in ultrahigh vacuum, a fairly rough surface structure develops whose mean orientation is different from (2 5 11)