The measurements were performed on the clean 2*1 reconstructed Si(100) surface and this surface exposed to molecular oxygen (O₂) or nitric oxide (NO) at room temperature. The data were corrected for electron loss and spectrometer distortions using the authors' newly developed deconvolution method. This method which uses global approximation and spline functions can overcome several difficulties with respect to deconvolution and allows them to derive high-quality auger lineshapes from the SiL_2.3 VV Auger electron spectra. The authors experimentally obtained Auger lineshapes were compared with theoretical lineshapes utilising quantum chemical cluster calculations. They used this type of calculation for the interpretation of the Auger lineshape in the actual p-like and s-like partial local density of states for different types of silicon atom. The observed intensities of the major features are in reasonable agreement with the authors' calculations.