The (111)/(100) interface in cubic materials

Abstract

Descriptions of crystalline interfaces have concentrated on grain boundaries using the framework of the coincident-site-lattice (CSL) model. Within this framework, an interface-plane scheme can be formulated to describe all types of crystalline interfaces, homophase or heterophase. Low Σ values, the inverse density of CSL sites, are associated with boundaries with low energies. However, stable interfaces that cannot be described by such models are often found experimentally in thin-film, semi-bulk and bulk forms. The stability of such interfaces thus depends on factors other than the geometry of the interface.Crystallography of the (111)/(100) interface in the cubic system has been studied extensively in a wide range of materials using different electron-microscopy techniques. Recently, this interface has spurred interest in the growth of tri-crystal microstructures to study junctions in polycrystalline thin films where three identical grain boundaries meet along a line. In this paper we review the (111)/(100) interface showing different examples from our recent work.