Coupled surface diffusion and mean curvature motion: An axisymmetric system with two grains and a hole

Thin polycrystalline solid state films, which are used in many technological applications, can exhibit various phenomena, such as wetting, dewetting, and hole formation. We focus on a model system containing two contacting grains which surround a hole. For simplicity, the system is assumed to be axisymmetric, to be supported by a planar substrate and to be bounded within an inert semi-infinite cylinder. We assume that the exterior surfaces of the grains evolve by surface diffusion and the grain boundary between the adjacent grains evolve by motion by mean curvature. Boundary conditions are imposed following W.W. Mullins, 1958. Parametric formulas are derived for the steady states, which contain two nodoids describing the exterior surfaces, which are coupled to a catenoid which describes the grain boundary. At steady state, the physical parameters of the system may be prescribed via two angles, $\beta$, the angle between the exterior surface and the grain boundary, and $\theta _c$, the contact angle between the exterior surface and the substrate; additionally, there are two dimensionless geometric parameters which must satisfy certain constraints. We prove that if $\beta \in (\pi /2, \pi )$ and $\theta _c=\pi$, then there exists a continuum of steady states. Numerical calculations indicate that steady state profiles can exhibit physical features, such as hillock formation; a fuller numerical study of the steady states and their properties recently appeared in Zigelman and Novick-Cohen [J. Appl. Phys. 134 (2023), 135302], which relies on the formulas and results derived here.