ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the classical theory of growth and focuses on the importance of kinetic factors and processes as well as the growth manipulations enabled by a prototypal far-from-equilibrium deposition technique, such as pulsed laser deposition. It provides the basic information and knowledge to a reader, the growth subject and intending to gain physical insight into mechanisms and processes involved in any deposition experiment. The surface free energy determined from microscopic interactions at an interface is termed "interface energy" or "interfacial free energy". Nucleation, phase transformations, crystallization, and growth are examples of processes requiring thermodynamic as well as kinetic treatment. The thermodynamic approach to growth lets one to predict the close-to-equilibrium growth modes. The chapter describes the correlation between morphology evolution and diffusion ability. It discusses the deposition, condensation, and morphological evolution as related to the realistic physical landscape, kinetic processes, and growth conditions.
