Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 6/2011

Abstract

Abstract Dear reader of these proceedings, Welcome to our collection of papers presented at the 7th International Conference on Porous Semicon‐ductors – Science and Technology (PSST‐2010) and accepted for publication. This conference was held in Valencia, Spain from 14th to 19th March and was the latest in a biennial series running since 1998. This year we accepted a record 223 abstracts with also a record number of countries being represented. Short Course for Students The conference was preceded by introductory re‐view lectures and handouts covering the core topics, and given by the conference chairs: Electrochemical synthesis of porous materials Chemical and biological sensor applications Medical, nutritional and consumer care applica‐tions Electronic and chip‐based sensor applications Technical Programme Eight invited speakers gave important review talks: Guiseppe Barillaro, Matthias Böhringer, Claude Levy Clement, Helmut Föll, Jan Van Hoeymissen, Luca de Stefano, Ennio Tasciotti and Nico Voelcker. One particularly poignant lecture was the memo‐rial talk on the career of Ulrich Gösele, who unex‐pectedly passed away on November 8th 2009. As his long term friend and colleague Professor Föll com‐mented “Prof. Dr. Ulrich Gösele has made lasting contributions to science and enriched the pro‐fessional and private lives of many people. He will be missed and remembered as an outstanding scientist and a caring friend”. Our oral presentations were grouped into the fol‐lowing technical sessions. The varied topics empha‐size the interdisciplinary nature of the scientific field covered by porous semiconductor R&D: Nanowires and nanotubes Pore initiation control and patterning Metal‐assisted etching and deposition Magnetic nanocomposites MEMS and advanced electronics Luminescence and energy transfer Photovoltaics Mesoporous materials Multilayers and photonics Microphotonic sensors Chemical and biomolecule sensing Biological interfaces and nanocomposites Porous silicon “in‐vitro and in‐vivo” Drug delivery Thermal and acoustic properties Advanced characterization Microfluidics and microfiltration Semiconductor anodization Stain etching The two poster sessions, with more than 100 contributions, were once again very well attended and the focus of lively discussion and debate. Social Programme The conference venue and time coincided inten‐tionally with the world famous “Las Fallas” – a remarkable week of celebrations and spectacular firework displays throughout the city of Valencia. Our conference dinner and excursion to the Las Fallas finale completed a very successful and enjoyable week. magnified image In addition to the above awards, Semitool Inc. once again sponsored grant awards to the following PhD students: Enrique Garralaga Rojas, IFS, Germany Meifang Lai, University of W. Australia Luo Gu, UCSD, USA Fengxia Liang, University of Hong Kong Judson Ryckman, Vanderbilt University, USA Quenti Van Overmeere, UCL, Belgium Acknowledgements For the seventh time, we are once again heavily indebted to the Valencian team of organizers led by Eugenia Matveeva with great support from Yuri Ma‐koshok and Maria Carmen Roca Saiz (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)