Preface for Proceeding of The 8th International Symposium on Atomic Level Characterization for New Materials and Devices (ALC '11)

The 8th International Symposium on “Atomic Level Characterization for New Materials and Devices (ALC'11)” was held in conjunction with the 5th International Conference on “International Union of Microbeam Analysis Society” (IUMAS-5) between 22nd and 27th May in Seoul, Korea. It was a bit difficult to hold the meeting so soon after the disaster in March in the Northern part of the main island of Japan (Honshu). Unfortunately, some of our committee members and persons who would have liked to join us could not participate. It was very sad for me. But the symposium was successfully organized with the collaboration of the Korean organizers who have given such a big contribution to IUMAS-5 and ALC'11 organization. It was impossible to be well organized without their big support.

The 8th International Symposium on “Atomic Level Characterization for New Materials and Devices (ALC'11)” was held under the auspices of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): the 141st Committee on Microbeam Analysis Japan. The 141st Committee, which is one of 62 University-Industry cooperative research committees organized by the JSPS, was established in September 1974 to meet the growing demands of microbeam analysis users and scientists for further education, innovation and mutual cooperation among industries, public institutes and universities. This committee has several goals: developing new methodologies, technologies and microanalysis instrumentation; promoting widely the practical application of these up-to-date technologies to industry; and, in particular, encouraging scientists of the next generation in the field of microanalysis.

The series of international symposia on Atomic Level Characterization (ALC), started in 1996, the first being held in Kyoto, followed by the second in Maui, Hawaii, 1997, the third in Nara, 2001, the fourth in Kauai, Hawaii, 2003, the fifth in the Big Island, Hawaii, 2005, the sixth in Kanazawa, 2007 and the seventh in Maui, Hawaii, 2009. The ALC symposium represents one of the most active meetings in Japan and probably in the world, to promote the microbeam analysis and characterization at the nanometer scale.

The symposium was aimed at establishing the atomic level characterization as the key technology for nano-technology which has been the focus of much research effort and development in many countries recently. The symposium featured the significant approaches towards atomic level characterization and its applications to various fields, such as the material science, art, mineralogy, geology and biology.

We thank all the 222 participants from 19 countries and the speakers who made the symposium a great success. The 45 invited and 146 contributed papers including 8 student award papers were presented in the symposium. The proceedings of the symposium are published in the special issue of Surface and Interface Analysis, e-journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology, and the Activity Report of the JSPS 141 Committee.

We celebrated Prof. D. Menzel, TU Munich and Fritz-Haber-Institute Germany who was awarded the JSPS 141th Committee Award and a honorable member of the JSPS 141th Committee. It was a great honor to give our best award to this distinguished scientist from around the word.

A special thanks to our committee members, Professor Y. Saito, the chair of the steering Committee, Professor H. J. Kang, the vice-chair of the organizing committee who greatly contributed from the Korean side and Professor H. W. Yeom, the vice-chair of the steering committee, and Professor Y. Homma, the chair the program committee, respectively. Thanks also Prof. M. Suzuki who carried out most practical work of the ALC organization as the secretary. Most of the publication matters concerned with this symposium have been handled by Professor G. Mizutani, the chairman of publication committee, and we express deeply and sincere thanks to him. We have to sincerely thanks to Mr. R. Oiwa, the vice-chair of the steering committee, for his big effort to make arrangement of all-round matter including the fund raising from industries. We have to also give big thanks to Ms. Shingu who contributed much for the fund raising from companies as the chair of the fund raising committee. We also express special thanks to Dr. K. Dohmae, Prof. T. Yasue, Prof. H. Nakahara, Prof. H. Ishii, Dr. T. Tomita, Prof. K. Hata, Dr. T. Hayasaka, Dr. T. Nagatomi, Dr. T. Kono, Dr. T. Sato, for their great contribution to success of the symposium, especially for Dr. Nagatomi for his effort as the guest editor of the e-journal. Of course, we don’t want to forget the very big support of Dr. S. A. Song, the secretary of IUMAS-5, who gave so much kind help to our organization of ALC’11 from the IUMAS side. It would have been impossible to make a smooth collaboration work without his effort.

We are also deeply grateful for the program on International Symposia for University-Industry Cooperation of JSPS for funding this international symposium and the support from companies in the industry.

Takanori Koshikawa

The former chair, JSPS-141st Committee on Microbeam Analysis and the chair of ALC'11

Osaka Electro-Communication University