IVC-14/ICSS-10/Nano5/QSA-10


IVC-14/ICSS-10/NANO 5/QSA-10: Birmingham, UK, 1998

The triennial IUVSTA congress has for many years combined the International Vacuum Congress (IVC) with the International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS), the ICSS effectively forming the Surface Science Division's component of the meeting. The congress held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham during the period 31 August to 4 September 1998 also incorporated the NANO 5 conference, which was combined with the component of the meeting run by the Nanometre Science and Technique Division, and the Quantitative Surface Analysis (QSA-10) meeting, which was combined with the activities of the Applied Surface Science Division of IUVSTA. This combined meeting attracted a very large number of submitted abstracts, from a wide range of locations, as summarised in the table below. Especially notable bearing mind the European location was the exceptionally large number of abstracts from Japan, a number subsequently reflected in a large number of attendees from the same country (see final table); the success of the previous IVC meeting in Yokohama in 1995 presumably contributed considerably to this effect.

 

IVC-14 Abstract submissions by country/region

Western Europe Eastern Europe & FSU Southern America Asia & Australasia
Austria

22

Belarus

4

Brazil

26

Australia

6

Belgium

16

Bulgaria

10

Colombia

1

Bangladesh

1

Denmark

9

Croatia

7

Mexico

7

Hong Kong

3

Finland

4

Czech Republic

18

Venezuela

2

India

2

France

42

Hungary

26

36

Iran

1

Germany

142

Lithuania

1

North America Israel

7

Greece

4

Poland

18

Canada

7

Japan

320

Ireland

7

Romania

20

USA

53

Korea

14

Italy

42

Russia

126

60

P. R. China

26

Portugal

13

Slovak Republic

4

Africa Singapore

9

Spain

38

Slovenia

20

Egypt

1

Taiwan

15

Sweden

25

Ukraine

52

South Africa

2

UA

2

Switzerland

18

Uzbekistan

9

3

406

The Netherlands

35

Yugoslavia

5

UK

203

320

620

total

1445

 This large number of submissions also led to an especially full scientific programme comprising 4 poster sessions, the opening plenary session, and 10 parallel oral sessions, independent programmes within the whole meeting being organised by the 8 Scientific Divisions of IUVSTA, Applied Surface Science (ASS - incorporating QSA-10),Electronic Materials & Processing (EMP),Nanometre Structures (NS - incorporating NANO 5), Plasma Science and Technique (PST), Surface Science (SS - incorporating ICSS-10), Thin Film (TF), Vacuum Metallurgy (VM) and Vacuum Science (VS). The breakdown of the activities of these Divisional programmes, compared with those of the previous 4 IVC meetings, is shown in the table below.

 

Comparison of abstract submissions/ final programmes for recent IVC meetings

Baltimore Cologne The Hague Yokohama Birmingham

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

Division accepted accepted submitted accepted submitted accepted submitted

accepted

inc.inv. inc. inv

total (oral)

ASS

102

114

214

194

184

168

211

184(76)

EMP

112

134

162

128

102

96

150

162.5(67.5)

NS

27

26

183

175.5(92.5)

PST

40

26

50

44

52

50

30

45.5(21.5)

SS

262

378

512

469

411

392

544

527(253)

TF

165

177

187

172

229

196

199

163(52)

VM

35

24

26

21

39

37

27

33(20)

VS

128

155

150

157

138

123

106

92.5(46.5)

joint

78

844

1008

1301

1185

1182

1166

1450

1383

invited/

plenary

99

91

78

79

72

N.B. Fractional numbers at Birmingham arise from apportioning in joint sessions

 

The Conference Proceedings have been published in Elsevier Journals as follows:

IUVSTA Divisions Journal Volume(s)
Surface Science (ICSS-10) Surface Science 433-435
Applied Surface Science (QSA-10)
Nanometre Structures (NANO 5)
Applied Surface Science 144-145
Thin Film
Electronic Materials & Processing
Thin Solid Films 344-345
Plasma Science & Technique
Vacuum Metallurgy
Vacuum Science
Vacuum 53 (nos. 1-2, pp 1-366)

 Final attendance at the meeting was 1219 delegates comprising 826 full registrations, 286 student registrations and 107 one-day attendees. The breakdown of countries of origin of these delegates is shown below. This number of paying delegates appears to have been just sufficient to achieve a financial break-even, aided by the income from the manufacturers' exhibition and the generous sponsorship contributions from Caburn-MDC, Elsevier Science, Hiden Analytical Ltd., Institute of Physics Publishing, Omicron Vakuumphysik GmbH, Oxford Instruments, PSP Vacuum Technology, Vacuum Generators with VG Microtech, VG Scientific and VG Semicon, and VAT Vacuum Products Ltd.

 

Breakdown of final attendance figures

Argentina 3 Egypt 2 Liechtenstein 2 Spain 23
Australia 7 Finland 4 Mexico 2 Sweden 39
Austria 23 France 52 Morocco 1 Switzerland 26
Belarus 1 Germany 115 New Zealand 1 Taiwan 7
Belgium 12 Greece 4 Poland 17 The Netherlands 44
Brazil 8 Hungary 13 Portugal 14 Turkey 1
Bulgaria 5 India 2 Romania 1 United Kingdom 236
Canada 7 Ireland 4 Russia 16 Ukraine 5
China 22 Israel 12 Singapore 4 USA 60
Croatia 5 Italy 43 Slovakia 4 Venezuela 1
Czech Republic 16 Japan 321 Slovenia 11 Yugoslavia 2
Denmark 11 Korea 8 South Africa 2

 

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