A study was made, of dislocation formation in 2-dimensional nanoscopic islands, using two methods: the molecular static method and the phase field crystal method. It was found that both methods revealed the same qualitative stages in the nucleation process. The dislocations nucleated at the film/substrate contact point, and the energy decreased monotonically when the dislocations were farther away, from the island-wetting film contact points, than the distance of the highest-energy barrier.

Two Approaches to Dislocation Nucleation in the Supported Heteroepitaxial Equilibrium Islanding Phenomenon. J.Jalkanen, O.Trushin, K.Elder, E.Granato, S.C.Ying, T.Ala-Nissilä: Journal of Physics - Conference Series, 2008, 100[7], 072043