  The Stranski-Krastanov growth kinetics of undislocated (coherent)
3-dimensional islands is studied with a self-consistent mean field rate theory
that takes account of elastic interactions between the islands. The latter are
presumed to facilitate the detachment of atoms from the islands with a
consequent decrease in their average size. Semi-quantitative agreement with
experiment is found for the time evolution of the total island density and the
mean island size. When combined with scaling ideas, these results provide a
natural way to understand the often-observed initial increase and subsequent
decrease in the width of the coherent island size distribution.
