Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 7/7‐8

Abstract

Abstract The 8 th International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors (ICNS‐8), a biennial event, was held in Jeju, Korea from 18 to 23 October 2009. ICNS‐8 was the eighth conference in a very successful series, following the previous conferences in Las Vegas (2007), Bremen (2005), Nara (2003), Denver (2001), Montpellier (1999), Tokushima (1997), and Nagoya (1995). Even when global economic recession and new influenza accidentally happened, we received a larger number of abstracts and pre‐registration than we expected. A new record number of 1,014 participants from 33 countries around the world attended and more than 750 presentations on a variety of aspects of nitride semiconductors were given at ICNS‐8. The conference reflected the exuberant and vital activities aimed at the theme of “Low carbon, green growth” to open a new arena for nitride semiconductors and related fields. It is our great honor to publish the proceedings of ICNS‐8 in physica status solidi. 249 manuscripts were submitted for publication. All the papers were reviewed in the same way as normal papers submitted to physica status solidi and 220 papers were accepted for publication. Some of accepted papers were selected to be published in special sections of physica status solidi (a) (41 papers) and physica status solidi (b) (17 papers). I would like to express my sincere thanks to each member of the International Advisory Committee and the Organizing Committee who provided continuous support for us to organize this conference. I also appreciate our Program Committee members. Despite of their busy and tight schedule, they spent precious time to read abstracts and did hard work at the Technical Program Committee Meeting held at Jeju in last July. Owing to their spectacular job, we had an excellent program with highly qualified papers. I also thank the Publication Committee for the ICNS‐8 proceedings. Without their effort, we could not get this invaluable result. We would also like to thank all the sponsors and agencies for their financial support for us to successfully organize the largest ICNS‐8. Finally, I would like to thank all the authors and participants for their valuable contributions to make ICNS‐8 a most exciting and informative conference. We look forward to meeting all of you again at ICNS‐9 in Glasgow in July 2011 (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)