Strain on building interface

[nitin0301]

Hi,

I'm new to using the VNL (which is BTW Awesome!) and was wondering if someone can help me out with this question that is bugging me.

When I make an interface using two different materials, there are four strain number that show up in the interface builder: e11, e22, e12 and the average.

Q: Should one consider the "Mean Absolute Strain" as the determining factor for how good lattice matching is? OR Should all other three strains (i.e. e11, e22 and e12) needs to be small for a good lattice matching of the two interface?

Thank you for any input.

best,
Nitin

[Anders Blom]

In a sense the average doesn't make so much sense, it's better to look at the individual numbers. But, also don't just rely on the strain, but also consider the angles of rotation. It's more likely that a "good" cell is something with a 45, 60 or 90 degree rotation rather than 12.56 degrees...