Nonlinear evolution of a morphological instability in a strained epitaxial film

Jean-Noël Aqua (1) , Thomas Frisch (1) , Alberto Verga (1)

1 IRPHE - Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre

A strained epitaxial film deposited on a deformable substrate undergoes a morphological instability relaxing the elastic energy by surface diffusion. The nonlinear dynamical equation of such films with wetting interactions are derived and solved numerically in two and three dimensions. Nonlocal nonlinearities together with wetting effects are crucial to regularize the instability leading to an island morphology. The island chemical potential decreases with its volume and the system consistently experiences a non-interrupted coarsening evolution described by power laws with a marked dimension dependence.

Domaines: Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Jean-Noël Aqua, Thomas Frisch, Alberto Verga. Nonlinear evolution of a morphological instability in a strained epitaxial film. Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (1998-2015), 2007, 76, pp.165319. ⟨hal-00203042⟩