Many paths to dewetting of thin films: anatomy and physiology of surface instability

The role of essential, real life thin film complexities such as antagonistic (attractive and repulsive) interactions, retardation of van der Waals force, substrate and film heterogeneities, slippage and visco-elasticity are critically examined. It is argued that several factors that are usually overlooked within the framework of the most widely used simple theory can conspire to produce similar length and time scalings and morphologies. Further it is shown with examples that the precise details of the preparation conditions and materials, which also determine the initial physico-chemical roughness of the interfaces, can have profound influences in the Density Variation Induced Instability, Defect Sensitive Spinodal Regime, as well as in the True Nucleation Regime.