A lateral growth mode leading to successive rotation of crystallographic orientation

A general theory of heteroepitaxial lateral growth of nanocrystallites via successive nucleation at the concave corner of the nanocrystallite and the substrate was developed. The theory treats the existence of a rotational instability of crystallographic orientation induced by the imbalance of surface/interface energy. From the theory it can be concluded that the crystallographic orientation may rotate continuously, sustained either by consecutive changes of facets on the growth front or by periodic modulation of surface energy of the substrate. Copyright  2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.