P e r g a m o n

Prog. Crystal Growth and Charact. Vol. 35, Nos. 2-4. pp. 115-116, 1997 © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Printed in Great Britain 0960-8974/98 $19.00 + 0.00

PII: S 0 9 6 0 - 8 9 7 4 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 0 7 " 2

INTRODUCTION

The seventh European Workshop on MOVPE attracted over 240 participants to Berlin over four days that were filled with interesting talks and stimulating discussions. The Workshop was held in the purpose built Haus der Wissenschait und Kultur in the Friedrichstrasse near the Brandenburg Gate. This building still belongs to the state of Russia and it is particularly appropriate that there were many scientists from Russia and other Eastern countries. The attendance at the workshop for many of these scientists was only possible through the generous support of sponsors. We especially want to acknowledge The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafl (DFG) who provided travel grants for 16 scientists from middle and eastern Europe. The building was well provided with lecture theaters and had masses of space for the poster presentations which were all available for viewing throughout the Workshop. The location of the technical exhibition in the middle of the scientific posters stressed the importance of a strong interaction between basic research and the application of MOVPE for device production.

The workshop opened on the Sunday with four mini courses on various aspects of MOVPE, covering the basics of VPE, CBE and MBE, modelling of MOVPE reactors and processes, in-situ monitoring and MOVPE in device production. These mini-courses were well attended and also well received. The organisers are deeply indebted to Maarten Leys, Yuri N. Makarov, J. Thomas Zettler and Norbert Ptitz for their hard work in the preparation and in the splendid presentation of these mini- courses.

Workshops are intended to provide an excellent opportunity for scientists to present new work, especially work that is not complete so it can be discussed and argued over. Additionally it can be a valuable forum for young scientists to gain experience in presenting their work and discussing it with colleagues. To facilitate the participation of these young scientists the organisers arranged to keep the workshop fee moderate. This was only possible through the support of our sponsors whom we would like to acknowledge. The essence of such meetings are that they should be stimulating, potentially controversial and thought provoking. This meeting we feel was a great success in meeting all these criteria.

As part of the workshop there were three special prizes, a "young" scientists novelty award, a best presentation award and a technical merit award. We must commiserate with the selection panel since it was no easy task and the closeness of the quality of the young scientists work meant that almost any of them could have won the prize. Luck and serendipity must have played their part in the choices. But the real value was to compete.

The young scientists award which was sponsored by Epichem and presented by Lesley Smith was won by Berthold Hahn for his paper with colleagues from the University of Regensburg on "The effects of amines as coreactants in the MOVPE of

115

116 Introduction

ZnSe". The best presentation award which was sponsored by Elsevier Advanced Technology (III-Vs Review) was presented by David Finch and went to groups from The Institute of Electrical Engineering, The Institute of Computing Systems at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava with support from The Thin Film and Ion Technology Group at Juelich. They provided three exceptionally well presented posters. The technological merit award was sponsored by Aixtron GmbH and was presented by Holger Jtirgensen to A. van Geelen, FI. de Vriez and L. Hendrix from the Philips Optoelectronics Research Laboratory in Eindoven for.their paper "Thickness control and uniformity in a multi wafer MOVPE reactor" highlighting the aspects of the use of MOVPE as a production tool.

The background for this presentation also underlined the fact that technological spin off was an important part of the workshop. A locomotive shed of the ,,Deutsches Technik-Museum" where the Workshop dinner was held, provided a worthy environment for the presentation of the awards. The Workshop participants really felt at home in such an appropriate venue.

It is not the role of the editors to identify specific papers in the conference, but it is appropriate to recognise that MOVPE is a rapidly maturing field which is beginning to move into very large scale industrialisation. The stimulation provoked by the availability of very bright visible LEDS, the nitrides and IT related work generally are providing ever increasing investment. There is no shortage of ideas and applications. The feedback to R&D is quite evident. It is reflected in the splendid attendance at a Workshop.

There is always the vexed question at Workshops as to whether they should be published in full or not. Whatever view one takes il is important that new ideas and the latest results of unfinished work should be available for discussion and not subject to the rigid discipline of print which is forever. To avoid these conflicts the organisers decided that the invited talks should be published since participants in the past have voted these as highly desirable at Workshops. They provide a much needed perspective on the topics which may not be familiar to all. The invited speakers have therefore been given the opportunity to expand their talks for publication in this volume. All but one of the invited talks are included and they give a splendid cross section of current hot topics in the field of MOVPE

It is for the reader now to browse and reflect on the current offerings. However, before closing we have to thank all the people involved in the organisation of this workshop. A great number of staff and students from the organising institutions Berlin Technical University, Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut and Interdisziplin~trer Forschungsverbund Optoelektronik were involved. We look forward to our next meeting in Prague in 1999 where we can discuss the issues raised and the latest ideas stimulating the field of MOVPE. Good Reading.

Wolfgang Richter, Markus Weyers Guest Editors