Dependence of direct-current-induced Si(111) Step Bunching on Initial Surface Miscut: Experiments and Simulations

DC heating of Si(111) surfaces can produce step bunching, with a complicated dependence on current direction and temperature. We have measured how the average step bunch height $H_{B}$ and maximum bunch slope $m_{B}$ depend on initial surface miscut \textit{$\theta $}$_{0}$ for 940\r{ }C$\sim $20{\%}), and can match the observed scaling with \textit{$\theta $}$_{0}$ provided the adatom effective charge is also large (0.2$e$ -- 1$e)$. \textit{Work supported by NSF Grant DMR-0074416.} [1] Gibbons \textit{et al}., Surf. Sci. Lett. \textit{in press}. [2] Zhao \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{70}, 161303 (2004).