Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
Oriented deposits are commonplace in vapor deposited films. The origins of this behavior are not always clear. Various bcc metals (Fe, Nb, Mo, Ta, Cr) have been deposited onto single crystal fcc substrates (Au, Ni, MgO, Si, NaCI) which were selected with the intention of varying the character of the substrate-deposit interaction. The resulting structures have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. The observed variants of the cube-cube and Nishiyama-Wassermann orientation relationship can be understood in terms of minimization of misfit except when there is a weak interaction between substrate and deposit.