International audiencetreatment of a polycrystalline thin film deposited on a substrate with no further deposition. Two types of substrates have been studied: a single crystalline substrate with no defects and a single crystalline substrate with defects. We obtain islands which are either flat i.e., with a height which does not overcome a given value or grow in height like narrow towers. The numerical results have been qualitatively compared with experimental data: the fragmentation after thermal treatment of an yttria stabilized zirconia thin film deposited on an Al2O3 substrate. A good agreement was found regarding the morphology of simulated and experimental nanoisland

We computed the self-organization process of a monodisperse collection of spherical micrometer-sized particles trapped in a two-dimensional thin liquid film isothermally dried on a chemically inert substrate. The substrate is either flat or indented to create linear stripes on its surface. The numerical results are illustrated and discussed in the light of experimental ones obtained from the drying of a water-based suspension of diamond particles (d{50}=10 microm) on a glass substrate. The drying of the suspension on a flat substrate leads to the formation of linear patterns and small clusters of micrometer-sized particles distributed over the whole surface of the substrate, whereas the drying of the suspension on an indented substrate leads to the aggregation of the particles along one side of the stripe which has a higher roughness than the other side of the stripe. This is an easy experimental way to obtain colloidal self-organized patterns.

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