9813068 Freiman An International Conference will be held in Barga, Italy September 13-18, 1998 on Lattice-Mismatched and Heterovalent Thin Film Epitaxy. The goal of the conference is to bring together world leaders in the field of semiconductor heteroepitaxy to discuss the most recent developments, stimulate collaborations and identify critical issues for future research. International invited speakers who work on different materials systems will form the foundation of the meeting. An objective is to benchmark domestic progress in this area against the international community, and to stimulate collaboration and discussion between researchers, especially between young professionals and established experts. The conference also serves to bring together industrial and academic scientists in an effort to encourage collaboration between these groups. Support from NSF will be used to partially compensate young scientists (junior faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) for travel and accommodation expenses. This will help the young scientists to establish vital contacts with International academic and industrial scientists working in the field. The conference is expected to provide an effective forum for discussion of critical scientific issues in heterovalent lattice-mismatched systems. Along with the opportunity to assess the field and future directions, it is expected that new ties will be established between universities, research institutions, and industry. %%% Semiconducting lattice-mismatched materials have far reaching economic potential since applications range broadly across electronics and photonics associated with computing, communications, and information processing. An evaluation of the progress and status of this field along with current assessments of the most important developments will be of great value to the understanding and enhanced utilization of these materials in applications beneficial to societ y. ***
