Stable Equilibria of Anisotropic Particles on Substrates: A Generalized Winterbottom Construction

Abstract

We present,a new approach for predicting stable equilibrium shapes of two-dimensional crystalline islands on flat substrates, as commonly occur through solid-state dewetting of thin films. The new theory is a generalization of the widely used Winterbottom construction (i.e., an extension of the Wulff construction for particles on substrates). This approach is equally applicable to cases where the crystal surface energy is isotropic, weakly anisotropic, strongly anisotropic, and “cusped”. We demonstrate that, unlike in the classical Winterbottom approach, multiple equilibrium island shapes may be possible when the surface energy is strongly anisotropic. We analyze these shapes through perturbation analysis, by calculating the first and second variations of the total free energy functional with respect to contact locations and island shape. Based on this analysis, we find the necessary conditions for the equilibria to be stable to two-dimensional perturbations and exploit this through a generalization of th...