Preface

Funding

During this watershedp eriodof scientificd evelop-ResearchS ocietya ndthe InternationaUln ionof Mate-menti n the UnitedS tatesw, e in the materialrse search rials ResearchS ocieties. field havet heg reato pportunittyo witnesst hefruition As chairo f thec ommitteteh atw orkedo vera yeart o of a complexa nd interdisciplinaaryre a:t hin film re-organizeth eT hin Films WorkshopI, woulda lsol ike to searchT. his speciali ssueo f Thin Solid Films is devoted acknowledgme y fellow committeem embersB ill R. to recenfti ndingst,r endsa ndo pportunitieins theg row-Appletono f Oak Ridge NationalL aboratoryP,a ul S. ing field of thin film researcahs seena t the 1stI nterna-Peercyo f SandiaN ationaLl aboratorieJso, hn M. Poate tional Workshopo n the Sciencea nd Technologyo f of AT&T Bell LaboratorieMs,i chaelS tukeo f the Max-Thin Films for the 21st Century, held July 28-Planck-Instituatn, dT akuoS uganoo f theU niversityo f August2 , 1991a t NorthwesterUnn iversityE, vanston, Tokyo. Collaborativbe rainstorminegf fortsg enerated Illinois. The researchd etailedh erei s a compilatioonf the initial Workshopa gendaa nd providedc ontinued papersp resenteadt the Workshopa ndp rovidesa com-supporta nd inputd uringt hep lanningp eriod. prehensivet,h oughh ardlye xhaustivep,e rspectiveo n During the Workshopp, anelc hairsP . Daniel Dap-the futureo f thin film research. kus of the Universityo f SouthernC aliforniaand The Workshop provideda forum for a highly-BernardS . Meyersono f the IBM T. J. WatsonR e-qualifieda nd diverseg roupof scientistsf rom around searchC enter( SemiconductPoarn els),T obin Marks of the world. An esteemedg roup of 38 distinguished NorthwesterUnn iversity(M olecular/Polymeric/Biolog-speakersre presentinsgix countriesa nd both the aca-ical MaterialsP anel), Gary A. Prinz of the Naval demica nd the industriaal renasp resentefdo rmallec-ResearchLa borator(yM agneticPsa nel),a ndR obertA . turesd uringt he day sessionso f the WorkshopT. hese Buhrmano f Cornell University( Superconductors/Ce-invitedl ecturerws erej oinedi n scientificp ursuitd uring ramicsP anel)a lsoe arnedh ighp raisef or theiro rganiza-an informalp osters essioni n the eveningw here39 tional skills and panelp resentations. abstractws ere presentebdy professorse,n gineersa nd I reserves pecialr ecognitionfo r the staff of North-studentsIn. additionto thesep resentationesa,c ha fter-western'Ms aterialsR esearchC enterw ho workedl ong noon sessionc oncludedw ith a discussiono f the day's and arduoush oursi n planninga nd preparingfo r the materiabl y a panelc omposeodf expertsin the particu-WorkshopF. inancialM anageTr erry Murphya nd ini-lar fieldso f researchB. y varyingt heform of presenta-tial WorkshopS ecretaryJu dy Turner were unfailing tion, from lecturet o group to one-on-onde iscussion, in their organizationaefl fortsa nd attentionto detail. participantosf the Workshopw erea ffordedth ebroad-Special thanksa re extendedto WorkshopM anager est senseo f exposuraen di nteractiown ithint helimited, StaceyS teinkef or her indispensablceo ntributionto week-longti me-frame. the entireW orkshopp rocessf, romp lanningto manag-A varietyo f areasw ase xploredd uringt hec ourseo f ing scheduleedv entsa nd finally,p reparatioonf these theW orkshopi,n cludingsi licona ndg roupI V materials, proceedings. compoundse miconductorms,o lecular/polymer/biologi- cal insulatorss,u perconductors/ceramanicds m agnetic materialsI.n accordancwe ith the breadtho f material covered,W orkshopp articipantcso ncludedth at thin film scienceim pactvs irtuallya ll areaso f technologayn d will continueto thriveb othin termso f researcha ndin industriaal pplication. I would like to thank the United StatesN ational Science Foundation and NorthwesternU niversity for their generouss upporti n makingt he Workshop a resoundings uccess. Also providing invaluable assistancwe ere Workshopc o-sponsortsh e Materials