Technical Conference Overview

2008 51st SVC Annual Technical Conference
April 19-24, 2008
Hyatt Regency Chicago on the River Walk, Chicago IL

Message and Invitation from the Program Chairs

The 2008 program of the 51st SVC 2008 Technical Conference offers a large selection of opportunities to appreciate the advances in the fields of vacuum science an technology and vacuum coating based technologies and related areas. By reading through this Preliminary Program, you will clearly see why you should start to make your plans now for traveling to Chicago

Chicago 2008

The program will address a number of technological breakthroughs and point to the most important, promising, and attractive developments for the future.

The 51st SVC TechCon will convene at the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel on the River Walk, Chicago, IL, on April 20–24, 2008. As an important theme of contemporary research and technology, the program focuses, among other topics, on environmental issues, power conversion and generation, and smart and functional materials by featuring the Symposium on Clean Technology Energy Conversion and Storage. The flavor of the Conference will already be set on Sunday evening by the Plenary Session with a presentation by Lawrence L. Kazmerski, National Center for Photovoltaics, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, entitled “Solar Photovoltaics Technology: The Beginning of the Revolution,” and on Monday morning by the Keynote Lecture of Subhendu Gupta, of United Solar Ovonic, entitled “Manufacturing of Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells.” You will have the opportunity to gain the perspective of technology leaders to tone the timing and direction of this important and high impact field. This overview by leading researchers is clearly something to look forward to.

The above Symposium and lectures will be complemented by two other special events, namely the Hot Topic Sessions on Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications of Vacuum Processes and Coatings, and High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS). These special program items accompany the traditional technical sessions that include Optical Coating, Large Area Coating, Plasma Processing, Vacuum Web Coating, Tribological & Decorative Coating, Emerging Technologies, Process Modeling and Control, and the Heuréka! Post-Deadline Recent Developments session. The Innovators Showcase and live product demonstrations will be featured in the Exhibit Hall.

In particular, advances in specific areas of general interest to the audience will be described within the traditional Donald M. Mattox Tutorial series. On Monday, the 2008 TechCon will host a lecture by Joachim Heberlein, University of Minnesota, who will present a talk on the “Principles and Perspectives of Thermal Atmospheric Plasma for Coating.” A second tutorial presentation on Wednesday will be given by Claes Granqvist, University of Uppsala, who will describe the challenges and perspectives of smart thin film structures considered in environmentally and energy-related solutions, in his talk on “Chromogenics: From Motorcycle Helmets to Energy Efficient Buildings.”

A Full Schedule

The various Technical Advisory Committees together with MPI and the Program Committee have worked hard to assemble this Preliminary Program, and we feel you will have as difficult a time scheduling your days as we have had fitting it all in. Thanks to a large number of contributors and equipment manufacturers, we have prepared a very full program of offerings ranging from our nearly sold out Exhibit to the comprehensive 2008 Education Program offerings. The ever-popular basic courses on vacuum coating and vacuum technology are also being presented so that the program spans the six-day period of April 19–24, 2008. The TechCon activities will include the already traditional and highly successful topical

Networking Technology Forum Breakfasts and the popular “Meet the Experts Corner,” as well as the 5K Fun Run and Walk.

This year we invite everyone to enjoy a night of live music and dining at the Chicago House of Blues networking event on Monday evening. Space is limited, so reserve your tickets when you register for the TechCon. See the Special Events box on the registration form.

As we go to press with this Preliminary Program, we should mention that there is still a chance for you to participate in one of the SVC presentation forums – Heuréka! Post-Deadline Recent Developments, the Innovators Showcase, and the Poster Session venues are meant to capture late breaking and key advances. Especially the increasingly strong Poster Session is organized within the most populated and actively visited area of the Exhibit Hall, where refreshment opportunities will be available. If you have contemplated these options for sharing your work, but have not made your decision yet, here is an opportunity – if you do elect to participate, you will need to submit an abstract via the SVC Web Site no later than March 1, 2008 in order to be included in the Final Program.

Please check the SVC Web Site (www.svc.org) for further updates. We trust the program will encourage you to attend the 2008 SVC Technical Conference in Chicago, Illinois. We look forward to meeting you there in April 2008!

Ludvik Martinu, École Polytechnique, Canada (514/340-4099; lmartinu@polymtl.ca) is the Program Chair. Ladislav Bárdos, Uppsala University, Sweden (46/18-4713034; Ladislav.Bardos@angstrom.uu.se) and Ric Shimshock, MLD Technologies LLC (650/938-3705; ricshimshock4mld@aol.com), are the Assistant Program Chairs.