Delaware Valley Chapter and Section

The Delaware Valley Section was formed in 1965.

With the new AVS organizational structure in 1971,
the Delaware Valley Section became the Delaware Valley Chapter

The Chairs of the Delaware Valley Section and Chapter were:

The Delaware Valley Section was formed in 1965 with Dick Denton as Chair. Seventy people attended the first symposium in 1965; the Speakers were J.T. Mark, Don Santeler and Hans Steinhertz. 

In 1966, the first of five meetings that year, on 17 March, was a  “Symposium on Materials"; the last meeting that year, on 17 November had 55 people. 

On 16 March 1967, 67 people attended a meeting and a  course on “Vacuum System Design” was given. Leon Maissel gave a talk at a meeting in May. Two meetings were held near the end of the year. 

The Delaware Valley Section and the Greater New York Chapter  of the Thin Film Division held a joint Symposium  "The  Practical Aspects of Vacuum and Thin-Film Technology” on 16 May, 1968, at the RCA Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey.  A joint symposium had been held at least once before. 

The Section held a meeting on 23 January 1969 at the Sheraton Penn Pike Motel, Fort Washington, Pa. Harold Schroeder, Manager of Photoconductive Development at Xerox Corporation, Rochester, NY. Talked on "Vacuum Deposited Optical Films." On 20 March 1969, a talk on  "Design and Control of a Vacuum System for the Human Centrifuge." was given by Robert J. Crosbie of the Naval Air Development Center, Johnsville, Pa. The meeting was held at the Naval Air Development Center. The 2^nd annual symposium on “Modern Aspects of Vacuum and Thin Film Science” was held at Bell Labs the pre-registration fee, including lunch, was $5 for members, $6.50 for non-members and $2 for students, with an additional charge of $1 for on-site registration.  Meetings were held in Fort Washington, Pa, on September 18 and November 20, 1969; the topics were “Odd and Unusual Uses of Vacuum Systems” and “Vacuum Furnaces”; the latter included a tour of the Midvale-Heppens Fall Steel Co.

In 1970, a “Thin Film Workshop” was held on Jan 15, a meeting on “Interfacial Phenomena-Surface States” at the Univ. of Pennsylvania on January 21,  a meeting on “Active Devices” on March 19 and the annual 1-day symposium on “Vacuum Technology & our Environment”  at RCA Labs on May 21; topics included  “Ultra clean air”, and there was a panel discussion on “Sensors - the Eyes of the Future"

From 1971, the new organizational structure was in place and the Delaware Valley Section became the Delaware Valley Chapter within the New York-Delaware Valley RAG, which covered an area of New York (zips 10001-11999, 12401-12603), New Jersey, part of Connecticut (zips 06807-06903), Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and part of Maryland (Zips 217 & up). The Delaware Valley Chapter covered all of this area except New York, Connecticut and part of New Jersey (Princeton-Asbury Park and north). In 2003, the Greater New York Chapter was dissolved and the New Jersey members were re-assigned to the Delaware Valley Chapter.

In 1973, the annual symposium on “Techniques of Ion Surface Interactions” was held on May 17 at RCA Labs

In 1975, the annual symposium was held on May 15 at RCA Labs

In 1977, the annual symposium on  “Adhesion in Thin Films” was held on May 19 at RCA Labs

In 1979, the annual symposium on “Vacuum Technology and Thin Films-their role in the development of new energy sources” was held on May 17 at RCA Labs. The registration fee was $12 for members and $5 for students. 

A course on “Pumping Hazardous Gases” was given on April 29, 1980, at the Cherry Hill Inn; the registration fee was $60.The annual symposium was also held at the Cherry Hill Inn, on May 15. On July 17, a symposium on  “Thin Films for Solar Sources” was held. On November 20, Vivienne Harwood and John Vossen gave talks on “Educational Programs of the AVS” and “Challenge to Vacuum Technology in IC Fabrication” respectively. 

The 1981 annual symposium on “Process Automation for Vacuum Processes” was held on April 30 at the Cherry Hill Inn. A 1-day course “Basic Vacuum Technology” was taught by Tom Jennings and “Overview of Thin Film Deposition Processes” by John Vossen. 

On March 25, 1982, Fred Dylla gave a talk on “Vacuum related problems in the fusion industry” and this was followed by a tour of the Princeton Plasma Laboratory.  The 1982 annual symposium was held at the Cherry Hill Inn on May 20; courses were given on “Plasma etching” by John Coburn and “Vacuum leak detection” by Don Santeler. 

The 1983 annual symposium on “Contamination in Vacuum Processes” was held on May 5 at the Cherry Hill Inn. On 15 September, Steve Fonash gave a talk on “Defect Structure and Electrical Property Modifications caused by Reactive Ion etching and Ion beam Etching”. On October 20,  P. Datta talked on “Plasma deposited coatings-properties and applications”. 

On 19 January, 1984, a talk on “Vacuum Fluids and Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes” was given by Martin Mastroianni. On March 21, John H. Thomas III gave a talk on “Auger Microbeam Analysis”. The 1984 annual symposium was held at the Sheraton-Valley Forge, King of Prussia, PA on June 6. There were six technical sessions and an equipment exhibit. 

On June 13, 1991 a workshop on  “Vacuum Measurement, Gauging and Leak Detection” was held in King of Prussia. 

On September 18, 1993 there was a dinner meeting in Willow Grove, PA; the talk was on “OSHA Guidelines”. 

The 1994 annual symposium on “Manufacturing and Vacuum Technology” was held at Villanova Univ on June 7; a course “It’s Broken, what do I do next?” was given by Jack Singleton. At a dinner meeting on September 21, 1994 in Willow Grove, PA,s Bawa Singh gave a talk on “Plasma Processes”. 

At a dinner meeting in February, 1995 in Willow Grove, PA, William Jones gave a talk on “Vacuum furnace systems”. On April 13, a meeting was held at Denton Vacuum, in Moorestown; Russ Custer talked on “Opthalmic Anti-reflection Coatings”. The 1995 annual symposium on  “Vacuum Measurement and Control” was held on June 7.  Awards were given for the best undergraduate and graduate student poster papers; the first prize of $250 went to Mustafa Akbulut of Rutgers Univ. An attempt was made to hold undergraduate posters but there was no response. The Pennsylvania State Teachers Assoc (PASTA) asked the chapter to find speakers on secondary school science education for their annual conference, Nov 9-10, 1995 in Valley Forge. 

A Chapter profile was published in the March/ April 1996 issue of the Newsletter. There were 274 members. The courses offered in 1995 had been sold out and there were 50 attendees at the annual symposium. Business card advertisements had been included in the notice of the symposium. The chapter had funded a teacher to attend the Science Educators’ Workshop. On January 18, 1996, there was a plant tour of “Solar Atmosphere”. A web page was initiated by Art Viescas of Villanova University in 1996. 

On June 4, 1997, the Chapter held the annual symposium along with the Greater New York Chapter. The session organized by the Chapter was “How thin film technology has progressed in 5 years” and the GNY’s topic was “Leading edge silicon-based devices and materials”. There was a 1-day course on “General vacuum principles for thin film technology”; the registration fee was $150. 

The 1998 annual symposium “Applied vacuum science and industrial technology” was held on June 18 at Lehigh Univ, Bethlehem. PA. The Dorothy M Hoffman Vacuum Education Award was given for the best student poster. There was a 1-day course on “basic vacuum techniques”; registration was $150.

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