Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
General high-angle tilt grain-boundaries may be described by an arrangement of repeating structural units. A particular defect in the normal arrangement of structural units in a Σ=27 <110> tilt grain-boundary in Ge is reported.The defect is characterized by a short segment of (111) facet at the interface, and is associated with a screw dislocation in the boundary plane. This defect accommodates a slight misorientation of the boundary away from the perfect tilt configuration, andmay represent a type of structural unit present in other tilt boundaries containing a small twist component.