SURFACE-STRESS-INDUCED STRUCTURE AND ELASTIC BEHAVIOR OF THIN-FILMS

Computer simulations of unsupported (111), (001), and (011) thin films of gold, using an embedded-atom-method potential, demonstrate a direct correlation between the bulk-surface stress and the film dimensions. The considerably more complex elastic behavior, by contrast, appears to be dominated by the atomic structure of the film surfaces, and not by the stress-induced anisotropic lattice parameter changes.