Kinetics of atomic smoothing GaAs(0Â 0Â 1) surface in equilibrium conditions

► Kinetics of GaAs(0 0 1) surface smoothing in equilibrium conditions is measured. ► Roughness, step length, Fourier spectra and correlation functions are analyzed. ► Smoothing is accompanied by narrowing the spectra of spatial frequencies. ► Length of monatomic steps is the best characteristic of step-terraced surfaces. ► The excess of step length is inversely proportional to the annealing time.