Thin Film Division

The Thin Film Division (TFD) was officially formed in July 1964, with Klaus Behrndt playing an important role. It immediately had 173 members, of whom 67 joined AVS as a result of the formation of the Division, and accounted for about 10% of the total AVS membership.

During the previous year, discussions among a number of people had concluded that there was a need for an organization of “film people” and this would best be done as a division of AVS. An organizational meeting was held at Bell Labs on September 11, 1963 and about 200 people attended a meeting on 16 Oct, 1963 during the 10^th Symposium in Boston and 90% approved of the formation of the Division. The reasons for organizing the Division were presented and were repeated in a newsletter sent to all members in December, 1963 with an application form for membership; the dues were $2 for an AVS member and $7 for a non-member, $5 of which was for AVS membership. By December, 119 people had joined, 56 of whom had been AVS members already, although some quite recently. 

On the day preceding the 1964 Annual Symposium, the TFD organized a special session of seven invited papers; 400 people attended the session and it was estimated that up to 600 of the Symposium attendees were mainly interested in thin film topics. Except for 1966, the TFD ran a separate 1-day symposium, devoted to thin-film topics, on the day preceding every annual Symposium until 1969. in 1966, it was held in  parallel, due to space limitations. After that, the program was integrated with the rest of the Symposium. 

Maurice Francombe, who was a member of the original founding group, recalls that:

“Klaus Behrndt actually played the dominant role in conceiving and putting together the TF Division, despite considerable resistance from some Board members, who did not approve of the potential transformation of AVS into a "Scientific Society". The division was established at the AVS Symposium in Boston on October 16, 1963 with Klaus as chairman, Bill Schleuning as Vice-Chairman, and myself as Secretary -Treasurer. The first one-day symposium on "Nucleation and Growth" was held at the Chicago AVS National Symposium in 1964.

Klaus was a born organizer with tremendous energy and imagination, but  unfortunately was rather abrasive and could not suffer fools gladly. His contributions to AVS have been sadly under-appreciated. Entirely due to his efforts, the Gordon Conference Thin Film Series (at Tilton, NH) was established in 1966, and as far as I know is still in existence. We ( Klaus, Dick Hoffman, Connie Neugebauer and myself) started the International Conference (and organizing Committee) on Thin Films Series in Boston , 1969, with Klaus as first Chairman. It was through Klaus's efforts that we were able to obtain IUPAP sponsorship for this series, beginning with the following ICTF Conference in Venice, 1972. The TF  Division has, since its foundation, maintained a strong guiding influence on numerous AVS Symposia, IUVSTA Conferences, and on many topical thin film conferences.”

The First International Conference on Thin Films (ICTF-1) was organized by the TFD and sponsored by the AVS, NASA, and ARL, Durham. About 110 papers, of which more than 60 were from foreign authors, were presented in
Boston at the Statler Hilton Hotel, 28 April-2 May, 1969. Invited symposia in transport properties and amorphous films were among the sixteen sessions concentrating on structure sensitive properties. Maurice Francombe was the program chair. The National Representatives or their delegates from thirteen countries met during the Conference and decided to form an International Committee on Thin Films consisting of:
 

Dr. K. H. Behrndt, USA, Chairman; Prof. F. Abeles, France; Prof. H. Bethge, Germany/DDR; Prof. A. R. Billings, Australia; Dr. F. Forlani, Italy; Dr. R. M. Hill, United Kingdom; Dr. G. Honjo, Japan; Prof. A. V. Rzhanov, USSR; Prof. N. Klein, Israel. .The Committee's objectives during the following three years were:

1. To help in every way the group of scientists which is organizing the next international conference.
    

2. To provide liaison between the various national groups of thin film scientist, to aid in the dissemination of announcements and to supply information on scheduling and topics of conferences.
    

3. To investigate the mechanism for future cooperation among national groups and with existing international. organizations.

The mission of the TFD, as given on the web page, is to promote and support the study of
 

*        methods and processes for the formation of films

*        methods and processes for the analysis of films

*        properties of film materials, components and devices

*        manufacturing of these devices and their applications.

In 1965, the Board approved the formation of Chapters of the Divisions and also approved the formation of the Greater New York Chapter of the TFD. The term “chapter” was not used to describe a regional group of the society until 1970. A Southern California Chapter of the TFD was approved in 1967.

The TFD issued a Newsletter during the early years and up till at least 1974.

Video taping of talks at symposia was initiated by the Thin Film Division, in the person of Don Mattox. He arranged for the taping of eight talks at the New Mexico Chapter symposium in April, 1973. This was followed by taping two talks at the Greater New York Chapter symposium in December, 1973 and three talks at the Southeastern Regional  (i.e. Florida Chapter) meeting in February, 1974. The list of talks was printed in the June, 1974 issue of the AVS Newsletter, reprinted from the April issue of the Thin Film Division Newsletter. The objective was to allow members who were unable to attend the symposia to hear and see interesting talks.

The TFD Chairs were:

The TFD provided travel support for students to present papers at the annual Symposium. For example, five awards of $400 each were given for the 1986 Symposium and IVC in Baltimore; four of these were given to students from Sweden, Germany, and Israel.  

Excerpt from the AVS Newsletter, June 1971 

The Thin Film Division is historically the second, and now the largest, Division of the American Vacuum Society, with 850 members. Formed in 1963 in order to provide a forum for investigators interested in the formation, properties, and uses of thin films, the Division has become the major clearinghouse for thin film information in this country. All preparation techniques, properties, and methods of analysis fall within the scope of the Division. 

Acting as a national scientific and technological body, the Thin Film Division sponsors an Annual Thin Film Symposium held in conjunction with the Annual AVS National Symposium. In addition to the invited and contributed papers, a one-day topical program is featured. Over the years these symposia have brought forth the latest findings in Nucleation and Growth, Structure Sensitive Properties, Device Operation, and analytical techniques as applied specifically to film problems. This year's symposium at the International Vacuum Congress in Boston, October 11-15, is strongly device oriented, with seventeen invited speakers covering a broad spectrum of thin film device applications. Some of the topic areas are: ferroelectric thin film memories, properties of selenium films, applications of magnetic thin films, diffusion and electromigration in thin film device structures, applications of vacuum deposited and chemically deposited III-V films, vacuum deposited IV-VI films, and an in-depth coverage of MOS device oxides and interfaces, including transport properties, optical properties, irradiation effects, and memory applications. Finally, a survey of the uses and future of thin film devices will be given by D. G. Thomas of Bell Labs. 

At the local level, four AVS Chapters which are affiliated with the Thin Film Division provide meetings and symposia for members living nearby. Thin Film Chapters are located in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and the Twin Cities area. 

The Division is instrumental in promoting thin film interests internationally as well as nationally. It organized the 1969 International Conference on Thin Films and arranged for fast publication of the Proceedings in JVST. Members of the Division launched the present International Committee on Thin Films whose purpose it is to correlate and dispense information of international interest, and to promote periodic international thin film conferences. The next such conference is scheduled for Venice in May of 1972, and the Thin Film Division is currently arranging for a Charter Flight to this conference. Members of the Division also initiated the Annual Gordon Research Conference on Thin Films and continue to play an active role in organizing these conferences. 

Members of the Division are kept informed about the various conferences of interest, the activities of Thin Film Chapters, special services provided by the Division, and other information of special interest through the Thin Film Division Newsletter. Certainly membership in the Division provides valuable information and services as well as contact with scientists having closely allied interests. You are invited to take advantage of these by joining the Thin Film Division. Write to the Thin Film Division, American Vacuum Society, Inc., 335 East 45th Street, New York, New York 10017.

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