In the past decade there have been many theoretical and experimental efforts to study the mechanisms of solid state dewetting, that means the spontaneous agglomeration of a thin solid film on a substrate into an assembly of 3D islands. The dewetting studies of solid films on solid substrates have not yet reached the degree of maturity achieved for liquids but there is now enough experimental data to consider the possibility of a future “dewetting engineering”. By dewetting engineering we mean all the ways to tune and/or control the kinetics of dewetting as well as the morphology of the final dewetted state. The ultimate goal is to avoid dewetting when it complicates the fabrication of thin film-based devices or to use it for the spontaneous production of an assembly of nanoscaled islands on solid substrates.

For this purpose we review the different parameters that influence the dewetting then illustrate how the dewetted state may be tuned by varying the thickness of the film, the annealing temperature, or the state of strain in the film. Moreover, adsorbed or absorbed species (by deposition or ionic impingement/ion bombardment) may modify the surface properties of the film or the mobility properties of the contact line film/substrate and thus the dewetting properties. Anisotropic properties of the film may also be used to initiate the dewetting from perfectly oriented edge fronts, leading to highly ordered 3D islands. New approaches using substrate pre-patterning or film patterning are very promising to achieve the dewetting engineering.

Ideal systems for studying solid state dewetting are single crystalline films deposited or bonded on amorphous substrates, so that, among the numerous dewetting systems reported in the literature, ultra-thin crystalline silicon-on-insulator (SOI) film (a Si film bonded on an amorphous SiO₂ substrate) is considered as a model system for studying how to control solid state dewetting. Other systems, as Ni epitaxially grown on MgO, are also used to illustrate the different approaches for a “dewetting engineering”.

在过去的十年中，已经进行了许多理论和实验努力来研究固态去湿的机理，这意味着将基板上的固态薄膜自发团聚为3D岛的组件。固体基质上的固体膜的去湿研究尚未达到液体所达到的成熟度，但是现在有足够的实验数据来考虑将来进行“去湿工程”的可能性。通过去湿工程，我们指的是调节和/或控制去湿动力学以及最终去湿状态的形态的所有方法。最终目的是避免在使基于薄膜的器件的制造复杂化时将其润湿，或者将其用于自发生产固体衬底上的纳米级岛组件。

为此，我们回顾影响去湿的不同参数，然后说明如何通过改变膜的厚度，退火温度或膜中的应变状态来调节去湿状态。而且，被吸附或吸收的物质（通过沉积或离子冲击/离子轰击）可改变膜的表面性质或接触线膜/基底的迁移率性质，从而改变去湿性质。薄膜的各向异性也可以用于从完全定向的边缘前沿开始去湿，从而导致高度有序的3D岛。使用基板预构图或膜构图的新方法非常有希望实现去湿工程。

研究固态去湿的理想系统是沉积或粘结在非晶衬底上的单晶膜，因此，在文献中报道的众多去湿系统中，超薄绝缘体上硅（SOI）膜（硅膜粘结在硅上）非晶SiO ₂衬底）被认为是研究如何控制固态去湿的模型系统。Ni在MgO上外延生长的其他系统也用于说明“去湿工程”的不同方法。