Anisotropy analysis of the surface energy of diamond cubic crystals

The surface energies for 24 surfaces of diamond structure cubic crystals of C, Si and Ge have been calculated using the modified embedded-atom method. The results show that the three lowest surface energies correspond to the (111), (211) and (433) surfaces. Considering surface energy minimization solely, the (111), (211) and (433) textures should be favourable successively in diamond cubic films. The appearance of abnormal grains or textures with (111) and (211) orientations in Si, Ge and C films results from surface energy minimization.