Workshop Identifies Scientific, Commercial Opportunities for Future Thin Film Research and Technology
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The first International Workshop on the Science and Technology of Thin Films for the 21st Century, held this past summer at Northwestern University, assembled the world's leading experts to assess the trends and opportunities in one of the most fruitful areas of materials research. A complex field, thin film science touches virtually ail areas of technology and has had a major économie impact as well. Silicon integrated circuits, for example, form the basis of the Computing and télécommunications industries, both noted économie cornerstones. The diverse, highly qualified group of 150 invited speakers and registered participants came to several conclusions: • The scientific, technologiCal, and commercial opportunities in this field hâve never been more exciting. The panel chairs hâve articulated their findings, and they are presented hère in separate reports. • Although the thin film field is huge, complex, and interdisciplinary, there are common scientific linkages or driving forces in how the field has developed and is practiced. The discovery of new déposition and fabrication techniques has historically led to new thin film materials. Analysis of the basis molécules of thèse materials has led to the discovery of new physical and chemical phenomena. And the practitioners of thin film science hâve traditionally had a lively, realistic interest in applying their work. • The funding situation and lack of a cohérent national policy in the United States were causes for concern among U.S. workshop participants.
MRS BULLETIN/NOVEMBER1991
The workshop covered a wide range of topics, including silicon and group IV materials, compound semiconductors, polymer/biological/organic insulators, superconductors/ceramics, and magnetic materials, in formai lectures, panel discussions, and poster sessions. The formai lectures by 38 distinguished speakers from around the world and the ensuing panel discussions produced thought-provoking ideas and perspectives for the future. See the separate panel reports for lists of the distinguished speakers and summaries of each panel's ideas and conclusions. Contributions to the informai poster session, attended by the entire gamut of registrants, came from professors, engineers and students. The poster session proved to be a productive forum for interaction between students and teachers, and relative novices and experts. During the week, participants also had the opportunity to casually talk business in the less restrictive atmosphère of several social gatherings. The workshop was sponsored by Northwestern University's Materials Research Center and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Co-sponsors were the Internationa] Union of Materials Research Societies and the Materials Research Society. The organizing committee, chaired by R.P.H. Chang of Northwestern University, included Bill R. Appleton of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Paul S. Peercy of Sandia National Laboratories, John M. Poate of AT&T Bell Laboratories, Michael Stuke of the Max-Planck-Institut, and Takuo Sugano of the University of
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