Materials for Tomorrow

Material science has taken a key position for new technical developments, and is therefore strongly supported by industry and governments. It has nowadays a position between physics, chemistry and engineering and extends from basic science in physics and chemistry on atomic scale to large scale applications in industry. An increasing number of material science study courses at
universities underlines the present and future importance of understanding and developing materials for the future. Looking at
the industry with one of the fastest development at present, the communication industry, it is obvious that a large part of the actual research for future materials is devoted to the understanding of materials to be used in devises developed on the nanometer (nm) scale.

The contributions to this book grew out of the lectures given at the Heraeus Ferien Kurs on materials for today, tomorrow and beyond, held at the University of Technology Chemnitz in October 2004. As the lectures were given to students of different origin (physics, chemistry, material science), the articles not only contain our todays knowledge in each of the fields, but make reference also to basic facts needed for their understanding. Thus the articles combine a presentation of the present research in the field with some basis information on a text book level; they bridge the gap between specialized reviews and study books. In addition, lectures on material simulation, a very fast advancing discipline, are combined with lectures on experimental research in material science, and the techniques used in both of these disciplines.