We investigate the effect of surface/interface elasticity in the presence of
nanoparticles, embedded in a semi-infinite elastic medium. The work is motivated by
the technological significance of self-organization of strained islands in multilayered
systems. Islands, adatom-clusters, or quantum dots are modeled as inhomogeneities,
with properties that differ from the ones of the surrounding material. Within the
framework of continuum elasticity theory, the Papkovitch–Neuber displacement
methodology coupled with Gurtin’s surface elasticity yields an analytical
solution. The elastic field is expressed in terms of four sets of spherical and
cylindrical harmonics. Surface elasticity introduces an additional length scale and
results suggest that local stresses are significantly affected by the size of the
nanoparticles.
