On the possibility of measuring the tensor of surface stress in thin crystalline plates

Abstract

We have emphasized that in a free crystalline plate the surface stress causes the lattice strain ( both perpendicular to the plate plane and tangent-plane ), which is inversely proportional to the plate thickness. The similar dependence of lattice strain on the interface surface stress ought to be in two-component multilayer crystalline films ( bilayer superlattices ). The surface-induced lattice strain makes it possible to determine the value of the tensor of surface stress by measuring the thickness dependence of the relative change of lattice parameters in extended thin crystalline plates. We also derive a simple relation between the surface stress tensor and the integral characteristic of multilayer surface relaxation in a crystal with a plane boundary and relatively small near-surface disturbances of the bulk elastic moduli.