The epitaxial growth of Gd₂O₃ on Si(001) has been investigated using several methods, including X-ray and electron diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. The results show that crystal structure and morphology can be tuned by changing the growth conditions and are discussed within the framework of different physical effects.

The basic principles of a model predicting new lattices from a known crystal structure are described. The first of the two-step procedure consists of extracting one- or two-dimensional periodic fragments from the mother structure. In the second step, symmetry operators are added to the periodic fragments in order to generate one or several new three-dimensional lattices consistent with the 230 space groups.