It was recalled that interfaces between epitaxial layers with different lattice parameters often contained relatively simple arrays of misfit dislocations. The configuration in which a thin layer in compression was relaxed by the introduction of 2 sets of orthogonal misfit dislocations was widely studied. Here, 3 less straightforward situations were considered. Interfaces on vicinal planes were shown to contain 4 arrays of dislocations which crossed at small angles. Layers under tensile strain could relax via several mechanisms, and it was pointed out that strained layers never relaxed fully to give a strain-free surface.

P.J.Goodhew: Journal of the Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 1994, 55[10], 1107-14