Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
The curvature induced in the substrate of a film-substrate system as a result of an epitaxial mismatch strain in a film of nonuniform thickness is considered. In particular, the change in curvature of the substrate due to a transition in film surface morphology from a fiat to a wavy profile is determined numerically. It is found that the amount of curvature relaxation accompanying the instability is within the resolution of recently refined substrate curvature measurement methodologies.