IOP Groups
EUROCVD 2007
Reports of past conferences
Eurocvd is a long running, high profile, biennial conference covering all aspects of chemical vapour deposition and related technologies. Although the name suggests a European focus, this conference also attracts leading researchers from across the globe including attendees from North America, Russia, Asia and the Far East. Eurocvd 16 (2007) was held in Scheveningen, Den Haag, the Netherlands and hosted by Chris R. Kleijn and his team from Delft University of Technology, attracting over two hundred and forty delegates.
The week long conference was subdivided into sessions according to areas of interest including fundamentals, simulation, nanostructured materials, functional thin films, novel precursors and experimental techniques. Each session featured invited lectures from key researchers, ensuring a high quality program. The contributions relating to functional films and atmospheric pressure plasma techniques were highly relevant to my doctoral thesis. This is an area of continuous development, with many configurations being demonstrated. Attending the conference demonstrated very clearly to me the current state of the art, with many speakers describing previously unpublished work. It was particularly interesting to compare the film properties obtained using alternative low temperature plasma methods with my own findings.
In particular, the work presented by Carmen Jimenez from INPG France described a novel technique combining plasma post-discharge with pulsed injection MOCVD for the deposition of titania at low temperatures. The conditions and corresponding film properties showed some equivalence to those grown by myself using an in-situ glow type barrier discharge. The many interesting presentations included the use of a similar barrier system for the carbon coating of metal oxide nanoparticles described by Emanuela Marino representing TNO Netherlands. Poster sessions were held each evening relating to the preceding topics. This provided a valuable opportunity to discuss points of interest with the authors in an informal setting, which was beneficial in terms of both technical details and networking opportunities. The conference dinner and lunches also provided a welcome opportunity to make new acquaintances and build on existing contacts.
From a personal perspective as a young researcher, this conference was highly beneficial, providing an enhanced overview of current developments in chemical vapour deposition. I had attended the previous Eurocvd 15 during the early stages of my PhD and although it was a useful experience, I was able to derive much more from this second visit following a further two years experience and my continued interest in the subject.
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