This 18th volume of the series includes invited papers from the Seventh All-Union Conference on the Growth of Crystals and the Symposium on Molecular-Beam Epitaxy that were held in Moscow in November, 1988. In choosing papers, the Program Committee of the conference gave priority to studies in rapidly emerging areas of the growth and preparation of crystalS and crystalline films. The qualifications of the authors were also consid­ ered. This ensured that the material was of a high standard and that the problems discussed covered a wide range. These are the same criteria that, we hope, are typical of the volumes of this series. The articles of the present volume are divided into four sections: I. Processes on the growth surface. II. Molecular-beam epitaxy. III. Growth of crystals and films from solutions and fluxes. N. Growth of crystals from the melt. Following tradition, the series opens with three theoretical articles. These examine problems applicable to various crystallization media: instability of the crystallization front (for a more general case than before and for a comparatively complicated system, a solution), adsorption and migration of atoms and molecules (the analysis is made on a quantum-chemical level), and the kinetics of step and dislocation growth in the presence of surface anisotropy as well as impurity adsorption (several earlier known methods are summarized). The next two articles are experimental and methodical.