MOTIVATION

The analysis of crystalline interfaces, such as thin films and grain boundaries, is crucial for the design, development, and application of various modern materials. During the epitaxial growth of thin films and the self-assembly of crystalline nanostructures, multi-scale phenomena take place and the microscopic morphology strongly impacts the material macroscopic properties. Any progress in the modeling of interface-pattern formations carries in principle the potential for a significant technological impact.

AIM

The workshop aims at presenting the state of the art and the most recent advancements in the derivation, validation, and implementation of reliable models for the characterization of interface crystalline morphologies. New results will be presented both at the analytical and at the experimental level. On the one hand interface morphologies will be analytically characterized as minimizers of configurational energies in the framework of the Calculus of Variations or as solutions of evolutionary PDEs. On the other hand solutions and challenges encountered in experiments when growing supported nanostractures for example by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) will be presented.

THEMES

1. Derivation of models for crystalline interfaces.
2. Crystal-interface regularity and geometric properties.
3. Thin-film growth and evolution of crystal interfaces.
4. Growth challenges in experiments and applications to technology.

Schedule (pdf)