Introduction to the BCF theory

Sixty-five years have passed since Burton, Cabrera and Frank (BCF) published the seminal paper (W. K. Burton, N. Cabrera and F. C. Frank, Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London, 243 (1951), 299). Since then, the paper provided us the basic scheme of growth of crystals. In this lecture, the BCF theory is introduced for beginners as the basis of modern crystal growth study. The BCF theory explained the growth of facets with the help of screw dislocations. It introduced the concept of the roughening transition, which distinguishes the crucial difference of lateral growth of facets and normal growth of round surfaces.