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Crystal growth adds atoms, ions or molecules to an ordered crystal structure from a melt, solution or vapor. Growth competes with nucleation: a seed can favor one growing crystal, whereas many independent nuclei can produce a polycrystalline solid. Temperature and concentration gradients control transport to the interface, while interfacial attachment determines how arriving species join the lattice. A flat interface is not guaranteed; instabilities can create cellular or dendritic shapes. Epitaxy is the special case where a substrate guides the orientation of the growing crystalline layer.

Frederick Charles Frank helped develop the theory of dislocations and crystal growth. A dislocation can influence how new atomic layers form at a crystal surface, linking a defect inside a solid to its growth behaviour. The University of Bristol's history identifies these fields, together with surface physics, as major parts of his work.^[ref]

An electrical engineer researching semiconductor crystal growth and optoelectronics.^[ref]