Dimer Coupling Energies of the Si(001) Surface

The coupling energies between the buckled dimers of the Si(001) surface were determined through analysis of the anisotropic critical behavior of its order-disorder phase transition. Spot profiles in high-resolution low-energy electron diffraction as a function of temperature were analyzed within the framework of the anisotropic two-dimensional Ising model. The validity of this approach is justified by the large ratio of correlation lengths, ξ_{∥}^{+}/ξ_{⊥}^{+}=5.2 of the fluctuating c(4×2) domains above the critical temperature T_{c}=(190.6±10)  K. We obtain effective couplings J_{∥}=(-24.9±1.3)  meV along the dimer rows and J_{⊥}=(-0.8±0.1)  meV across the dimer rows, i.e., antiferromagneticlike coupling of the dimers with c(4×2) symmetry.