Related papers: Elasticity effects on the stability of growing fil…
When thin films are grown on a substrate by chemical vapor deposition, the evolution of the first deposited layers may be described, on mesoscopic scales, by dynamical models of the reaction-diffusion type. For monoatomic layers, such…
We discuss instabilities of fluid films of nanoscale thickness, with a particular focus on films where the destabilising mechanism allows for linear instability, metastability, and absolute stability. Our study is motivated by nematic…
We investigate the stress-driven morphological instability of epitaxially growing multilayer films, which are coherent and dislocation-free. We construct a direct elastic analysis, from which we determine the elastic state of the system…
A hydrostatically stressed soft elastic film circumvents the imposed constraint by undergoing a morphological instability, the wavelength of which is dictated by the minimization of the surface and the elastic strain energies of the film.…
A continuum dynamical model is developed to determine the morphological and compositional instabilities on the free surface of heteroepitaxial alloy films in the absence of growth. We use linear stability analysis to study the early…
A strained epitaxial film deposited on a deformable substrate undergoes a morphological instability relaxing the elastic energy by surface diffusion. The nonlinear and nonlocal dynamical equations of such films with wetting interactions are…
We consider thin fluid films placed on thermally conductive substrates and exposed to time-dependent spatially uniform heat source. The evolution of the films is considered within the long-wave framework in the regime such that both…
The van der Waals forces across a very thin liquid layer (nanofilm) in contact with a plane solid wall make the liquid nonhomogeneous. The dynamics of such flat liquid nanofilms is studied in isothermal case. The Navier-Stokes equations are…
We present a study of the spreading of liquid droplets on a solid substrate at very small scales. We focus on the regime where effective wetting energy (binding potential) and surface tension effects significantly influence steady and…
The interplay between thin film hydrodynamics and solidification produces formidably intricate geophysical structures, such as stalactites and icicles, whose shape is a testimony of their long growth. In simpler settings, liquid films can…
The morphology of crystalline thin films evolving on flat rigid substrates by condensation of extra film atoms or by evaporation of their own atoms in the surrounding vapor is studied in the framework of the theory of Stress Driven…
We investigate theoretically the effects of elastic and plastic deformations on heterogeneous nucleation and nanowire formation. In the first case, the influence of the confinement of the critical nucleus between two parallel misfitting…
A confined incompressible elastic film does not deform uniformly when subjected to adhesive interfacial stresses but with undulations which have a characteristic wavelength scaling linearly with the thickness of the film. In the classical…
We describe a novel crystal growth instability that enhances the development of thin edges, promoting the formation of plate-like or hollow columnar morphologies. This instability arises when diffusion-limited growth is coupled with…
We consider two thin layers of immiscible liquids on a heated solid horizontal substrate. The free liquid-liquid and liquid-gas interfaces of such a two-layer (or bilayer) liquid film may be unstable due to effective molecular interactions…
Partially wetting nematic liquid crystal (NLC) films on substrates are unstable to dewetting-type instabilities due to destablizing solid/NLC interaction forces. These instabilities are modified by the nematic nature of the films, which…
Motivated by recent experimental observations [U. Delabre et al, Langmuir 24, 3998, 2008] we reconsider an instability of ultrathin nematic films, spread on liquid substrates. Within a continuum elastic theory of liquid crystals, in the…
We consider a model of a thin film elastically attached to a rigid substrate. In the case in which the film expands relative to the substrate and assuming certain non-linear elastic behavior of the film, expansion ridges may appear, in…
The spontaneous formation of droplets via dewetting of a thin fluid film from a solid substrate allows for materials nanostructuring, under appropriate experimental control. While thermal fluctuations are expected to play a role in this…
A continuum model for growth of solids is developed, considering adatom deposition, surface diffusion, and configuration dependent incorporation rate. For amorphous solids it is related to surface energy densities. The high adatom density…