The shapes and positions of shallow (500Aå) depressions on silicon substrates undergo changes during the growth of epitaxial silicon deposited by the hydrogen reduction of . Control of this distortion is important for the proper registration of diffusion masks in the fabrication of junction isolated integrated circuits. Data are presented on the shape distortion of surface depressions and the lateral displacements of the edges of these depressions; the effects of surface orientations in the vicinity of (111) and (100), the temperature of the deposition, and the orientation of surface depressions relative to symmetry planes in the lattice are included. Symmetrical displacements of small magnitude (∼2.5μ for an 8μ epitaxial layer) can be obtained for one pair of sides of rectangular depressions on surfaces 3° off (111) toward a nearest (110); depressions are obliterated during growth onto surfaces very near (111), and surfaces off (111) toward a nearest (100) produce diffuse, highly distorted figures. For exact (100) surfaces, symmetrical and small displacements can be obtained with both pairs of sides of the rectangular depressions; the sharpness of the boundaries of depressions on (100) surfaces is strongly dependent on the temperature of the epitaxial deposition. Large pits associated with stacking faults on (111) surfaces can be qualitatively understood in terms of distortion of the small groove which occurs at the fault‐surface intersection. Generally, knowledge of the anisotropy of the growth rate along with knowledge of the symmetry of the lattice provide a qualitative understanding of the crystallographic dependence of the distortion phenomenon.