Surface precipitates, resulting from the compositional deviation in the growth of compound films, can be annihilated by impingement of elements that are necessary for the precipitates to assimilate into the underlying stoichiometric compound, and such phenomena are found to occur at a substrate temperature above the melting point of the surface precipitates. We report on the annihilation of Pd-rich Te precipitates on PdTe(001) films through the impingement of a Te2 molecular beam. The Pd-rich Te precipitates, which are liquid above 620 K, are formed by the impingement of excess Pd atoms on the Pd-terminated PdTe(001)-(3 × 3) R30°surface. When the Te2 molecular beam impinges onto the surface at above 620 K, Te2 molecules are captured on the Pd-terminated (3 × 3) R30°surface and the liquid precipitates with the sticking probability of unity. The excess Pd liberated from the liquid precipitates moves across the surface to form a planar Pd-terminated PdTe(001) surface until the precipitate assimilates into the underlying stoichiometric compound. After the assimilation, the Te-terminated PdTe(001)-(1×1) surface appears. Thus the alternating impingement of Pd and Te2 beams onto the PdTe substrate repeats the process of generation and annihilation of the liquid precipitates
consequently precipitate-free epitaxial growth occurs. A possible growth mechanism is proposed. © 1995 The American Physical Society.