Table of contents:
1. Introduction and Overview --
2. Film stress and substrate curvature --
3. Stress in anisotropic and patterned films --
4. Delamination and fracture --
5. Film buckling, bulging and peeling --
6. Dislocation formation in epitaxial systems --
7. Dislocation interactions and strain relaxation --
8. Equilibrium and stability of surfaces --
9. The role of stress in mass transport.

Summary:
Thin films play an important role in many technological applications including microelectronic device, magnetic storage media and surface coatings. This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the major issues and topics dealing with stress, defect formation and surface evolution in thin films. Physical phenomena are examined from the continuum down to the sub-microscopic length scales, with the connections.