  The existence of metal whiskers is attributed to the energy gain due to
electrostatic polarization of needle shaped metal filaments in the electric
field induced by surface imperfections: contaminations, oxide states, etc. A
proposed theory provides closed form expressions for the whisker nucleation and
growth rates, explains the range of whisker parameters and effects of external
biasing. It predicts a well controlled whisker growth on any metal surface via
generating surface plasmon polariton excitations.
