  An extended formation of faceted pit-like defects on Ge(001) and Ge(111)
wafers was obtained by thermal cycles to T> 750 {\deg}C. This temperature range
is relevant in many surface-preparation recipes of the Ge surface. The density
of the defects depends on the temperature reached, the number of annealing
cycles performed and correlates to the surface-energy stability of the specific
crystal orientation. We propose that the pits were formed by preferential
desorption from the strained regions around dislocation pile-ups. Indeed, the
morphology of the pits was the same as that observed for preferential chemical
etching of dislocations while the spatial distribution of the pits was clearly
non-Poissonian in line with mutual interactions between the core dislocations.
