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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
A variational approach to the modelling of growth and relaxation in elastically strained epitaxial thin films and islands is presented. The continuum model is derived for a twocomponent material system evolving via the kinetic mechanisms of evaporation/condensation and surface and lattice diffusion under the influence of elastic mismatch strain, surface tension and combinational phase energy. Phenomena such as surface segregation and interdiffusion between the film and the substrate are incorporated into the model. This approach is illustrated by a 2D simulation of the onset of instabilities during the growth of epitaxial thin films.