Figure 3.

STM images of the surface evolution of the stripe-patterned Si substrates during the second Si buffer growth step at 520°C at a buffer thickness of a 7 and b 20 nm, showing the transition from multifaceted “U”-shaped stripes with predominant {113} sidewall facets to shallower single-faceted “V”-shaped stripes, respectively. This is accompanied by a decrease in the height of the stripes from 35 to 12 nm. The inserts show the surface orientation maps (SOM) of the STM images, in which the bright spots indicate the most pronounced surface orientations of the pattern morphology. The different corresponding surface orientations are indicated by the different symbols as depicted below