In-plane strain variations near to the free surface of an epitaxial thin film which contained misfit dislocations were calculated. It was shown that the strain distribution beneath the surface of the film was not constant, and depended upon the film thickness even in the case of a constant misfit dislocation density. It was concluded that the strain which was deduced from diffraction measurements had to be corrected in order to obtain the true misfit dislocation density.

N.Junqua, J.Grilhé: Thin Solid Films, 1994, 250[1-2], 37-41