Annual AVS symposium convenes in Seattle
DOI: 10.1063/1.2784686
Focusing on interfacial phenomena and nanotechnology, AVS’s 54th annual International Symposium and Exhibition takes place 14–19 October at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. This year’s gathering features conferences, lectures, workshops, and short courses on cutting-edge topics in the ever-expanding field of vacuum technology. All those interested in the development of controlled environments, the measurement and processing of material interfaces and surfaces, and materials and processes in the nanoscale—in not only vacuum but also plasma and biological systems—should attend.
Held every fall by AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing, the symposium draws some 3000 scientists, professors, engineers, technicians, and students from the US and abroad. Subjects cover such diverse areas as biomaterials, environmental science, microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), plasma science and technology, and thin films. This year’s schedule includes 121 technical sessions and presentation of more than 1300 papers and posters.
The Energy Challenge
For the second consecutive year, the American Institute of Physics’s Industrial Physics Forum will meet in conjunction with the AVS annual symposium. The theme this year is the Energy Challenge. “AVS was planning a topical conference on renewable energy,” says John Russell, head of the surface chemistry branch at the US Naval Research Laboratory and this year’s AVS symposium program chair. “And we thought that the energy challenge was a theme which the IPF could augment. So it’s a topic we are covering synergistically.” The IPF will host five half-day sessions on automotive energy, energy efficiency, nuclear energy, energy for low-carbon impact, and frontiers in physics. And at AVS’s topical conference on renewable energy science and technology, car-company representatives will speak on future automotive developments and experts will discuss hydrogen and other fuel alternatives.
Nanoscience and nanotechnology dominate the AVS program this year, with 37 technical sessions devoted to nanoscale technology. A topical conference on nanomanufacturing features four sessions, spread out over Tuesday and Wednesday, 16–17 October, and includes discussion of MEMS/NEMS, semiconductor nanostructures, nanomanufacturing of materials, and information technologies.
AVS’s plenary lecture will be given at noon Monday by James Heath, the Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech, professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA, and director of the National Cancer Institute’s nanosystems biology cancer center. In his lecture, “Nanosystems Biology and New Technologies for In Vitro and In Vivo Diagnostics of Cancer,” he will discuss new medical practices and quantitative measuring tools, which involve microfluidics and nanotechnology. Using cancer as an example, he will discuss state-of-the-art diagnostic technologies and how they will impact treatment.
Another hot topic is in the area of plasmonics. Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor and professor of applied physics and materials science at Caltech, will speak on Monday, at 8:40am, on “Plasmonics: A Route to Optical Metamaterials and Nanoscale Optical Devices.” He will discuss new optical device technologies and methods of transmitting optical signals through nanoscale structures.
Besides energy, nanomanufacturing, and plasmonics, other topical conferences include in situ electron microscopy, marine biofouling, and studying biointerphases and magnetism with neutrons. Two featured topics are tribology and global health technologies. Session topics in tribology include friction, wear, and lubrication, as well as adhesion and nanomechanics. The biomaterials plenary session features three lectures addressing public health needs on a global scale, including discussion of new diagnostic techniques.
Prevailing throughout is the theme of surfaces/interfaces and their measurement, manipulation, and processing. There are technical sessions on advanced surface engineering, applied surface science, biomaterial interfaces, magnetic interfaces and nanostructures, surface science, and, of course, vacuum technology. Nine short courses will be offered, spanning three broad categories: vacuum and equipment technology, materials and interface characterization, and materials processing.
Special events
AVS will present its honors at its annual Awards Assembly, scheduled for Wednesday, 17 October, at 6:15pm, followed by a reception. For the second year in a row, AVS is sponsoring the Art Zone Contest, in which participants can enter scientific images to be judged by the other attendees for their artistic merit. The top 50 will be on display during the symposium, and monetary prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place. Also on display will be examples of glasswork by local artists. At the Ask the Experts booth in the Exhibit Hall, experts in the field of vacuum technology will be on hand to answer questions about particular problems. The booth will be open Tuesday-Thursday during normal exhibit hours. To promote social and scientific networking among attendees and exhibitors, a welcome mixer will be held Monday, 15 October, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm in the convention center. For more information, go to AVS’s website at www.avs.org .
Sessions with invited speakers
Sunday, 14 October
Afternoon
IPF: Automotive Energy. Sperling, Turner, Tamor, McCormick
Biomaterials Plenary Session. Durvasula, Rodriguez, Yager
Monday, 15 October
Morning
IPF: Energy Efficiency. Kazmerski, King, Bell, Nakamura, Kenderdine
Plasma Modeling. Makabe
Plasma Etching for Advanced Interconnects I. Nozawa, Neureuther
Catalysis on Clusters and Nanoparticles. Bowker
Biological Interactions at the Marine Interface. Callow, Liedberg, Walker, Chen
Quantitative Surface Analysis I. Baer, Powell, Walton
Organic Materials and Devices. Street
Atomic Layer Deposition and Applications. Gleason, Gladfelter
Materials Processing, Characterization, and Fabrication Aspects. Pacheco
Nanoscale Assembly and Manipulation I. Wolf
Hard and Nanocomposite Coatings. Vetter, Petrov
Structure-Property Characterization. Dahmen, Kabius, Robertson, Zuo, Howe
Plasmonic Nanostructures and Plasmon Manipulation. Atwater, Hohenau, Nordlander
Afternoon
IPF: Nuclear Energy. Hawryluk, Campbell, Peters, Hill
Plasma Processing for High-k, III-V, and Smart Materials. Pearton
Water-Surface Interactions. Held
Control of Marine Bioadhesion. Genzer, Wooley, Rosenhahn, Brennan
Quantitative Surface Analysis II. Vickerman, Seah, Renaud
Electronic and Vibrational Structure. Ueba
Emerging Topics in Atomic Layer Deposition. Knez
Materials Processing, Characterization, and Fabrication Aspects. McEuen, Edelstein
Pulsed Plasmas in Surface Engineering. Martinu, Ehiasarian
Dynamics of Nanostructures. Takeda, Sharma, Stach, Olsson
Plasmon Dynamics and Magnetoplasmonics. Stockman, Guyot-Sionnest, Petek
Tuesday, 16 October
Morning
IPF: Energy for Low-Carbon Impact. Carlson, Bierbaum, de Jager, Himmel, Burruss
Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition and Plasma Deposition. Jeon, Kessels, Massines
Advanced Gate Etch. Lill
Catalytic Chemistry of Hydrocarbons. Mavrikakis
Proteins at Interfaces. Elbert, Heinecke
Surface Analysis and Related Methods for Biological Materials. Moon
Surface Structure and Growth on Metals. Weitering
Molecular Electronics. Kushmerick
Two-Dimensional Carbon Nanostructures. de Heer
Integration and Packaging in MEMS/NEMS. Lal
Imaging of Nanostructures. Klie, Ginger
Glancing Angle Deposition. Brett
Applications to Biological Materials and Soft Matter. Katsaras, Chen, Lu, Nylander, Tanaka
Plasmon-Mediated Sensing and Biosensing. Corn, Perez-Luna, Coe
Afternoon
IPF: Frontiers in Physics. Gabrielse, Kasianowicz, Engheta, Bottke
Plasma Sources. Chabert
Bimetallics and Alloys. Chen
Engineered Cellular Interfaces. Hauch, Parker
Three-Dimensional Characterization. Kisielowski
Excitations at Surfaces. Sanche
Semiconductor Nanostructures for Electronics and Optoelectronics II. Tersoff, Xu
Surface Chemistry for Atomic Layer Deposition. Musgrave
Nanomanufacturing of Materials. Halas, Postek
Characterization of Nanostructures. Hasegawa, Economou
Naturally and Artificially Nanolaminated Coatings. Schneider, Högberg
Magnetism. Nagler, Klose, Plumer, Wiedenmann
Wednesday, 17 October
Morning
Catalysis for Hydrogen Storage and the Hydrogen Economy. Schmidt
Plasmas in Nanotechnology. Hatakeyama
Plasma-Surface Interactions I. Gordon
Oxide Surface Reactivity. Netzer
Nano-engineered Biointerfaces. Gao, Pun
Chemical Imaging at High Spatial Resolution and Nanoscale Materials. Weiss, Eggleston, Lillehei
Contacts, Interfaces, and Defects in Semiconductors. Okojie
Thin Film and Nanoparticle Growth and Characterization. Palmer
Nanomanufacturing for Information Technologies. Herr, Whitman, Wu
Nanoscale Devices and Nanowires I. Ross, Ferry
Photocatalytic Coatings. Gray, Fujishima
Phospholipid Bilayers and Membranes. Lösche, Charitat, Huang, Rheinstadter, Weik
Magnetic Thin Films and Nanostructures. Jenkins, Lin
Afternoon
Photovoltaics, Fuel Cells, and Alternative Energy Materials and Applications. Yang
Plasma-Wall Interactions. Singh
Plasmas and Polymers. Pargon
Reactions on Metal Surfaces. Matsushima
Nucleic Acid Sequencing and Technology. Edwards, Barron
Fabrication and Characterization of Functional Soft Material Surfaces. Braun
Oxide Surface Structure I. Reichling
Growth and Characterization of Complex Oxides. Schlom
Oblique Angle Deposition. Amar, Karabacak
Biological and Molecular Applications of Nanoscale Structures. Vogel
Nanoscale Devices and Nanowires II. Fujimoto
Surfaces and Interfaces in MEMS. Krim, Maboudian
Miniature, Portable, and Space Vacuum Applications. Kline-Schoder, Valek, Semancik
Nanomagnetic Imaging and Spectroscopy. Kern
Thursday, 18 October
Morning
Surface Science Challenges for Solar Energy Conversion. Lewis
Plasma-Surface Interactions II. Benedikt
Plasma Diagnostics I. Sobolewski
Oxide Surface Structure II. Chambers
Biomimetic Phospholipid Interfaces. Hristova, Parikh
Surface Structure of Compound Semiconductors. Bermudez
Zinc Oxide. Look
Thin Films for Electronic Applications. Li
Metrology and Characterization for Manufacturing. Notte, Kelly
Biolubrication, Sensing, and Adhesion. Spencer
Pumping, Pressure Measurement, and Calibration. Chew
Magnetic Semiconductors I. MacDonald
Afternoon
Plasma Diagnostics II. Gans
Plasmas in Bioscience. Yamashita
Environmental Surfaces. Fairbrother
Surface Analysis and Related Methods for Biological Materials. Boxer
Organics and Carbon Films on Silicon. Buriak
High-k/High-Mobility Substrates and Power Electronics. Ngo, Ye
Computational Aspects of Thin Films. Sinnott
MEMS Manufacturing. Winterton, Evans
Nanoscale Sensors. Hegner, Colton
Nanotribology and Nanomechanics. Warren, Marks
Adsorption/Desorption Phenomena on Vacuum Materials. Leisch
Large Vacuum Systems. Collins
Magnetic Semiconductors II. Zhang
Friday, 19 October
Morning
Thin Films for Displays and Flexible Electronics. Paine
Surface Dynamics. Pascual
Microbioanalytical Systems. Parviz, Gomez
Organic Films II. Liu
Nanoparticles. White
Nanolithography and Nanoprocess Technology. Brugger, Simmons, Culpepper
Friction and Wear of Engineered Surfaces, Macro- to Nanoscale Approaches. Carpick, Muratore
Spin Injection, Transfer, and Tunneling. Flatté, Russek, LeClair
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