VEIT 2014

The International Summer School on Vacuum, Electron and Ion Technologies (VEIT) has been organized biennially since 1977, when the series of VEIT School was launched by the Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with the aim to act as a forum for exchange and dissemination of knowledge and ideas on the latest developments in electron-, ion-, and plasma-assisted technologies. The organizers of the 2013 edition of the event were the Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria and the the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. While the school has initially been providing a meeting place for researchers mainly from Eastern and Central European countries, its importance has grown issue by issue. The school is now a major scientific event and a meeting place for young scientists from Eastern and Western Europe involved in research and development associated with high-tech industries. Many former school participants have gone on to become leading scientists in research establishments and companies throughout the world. Leading international companies, such as High Voltage Engineering, Balzers, Varian, and Hauzer have used the VEIT forum to present their products through oral presentations, poster contributions or exhibits. The School Proceedings have been published in special issues of the international journals Vacuum, Plasma Processes and Polymers, and Journal of Physics: Conference Series.

The eighteenth edition of VEIT was held in the Black Sea resort Sozopol, Bulgaria, on 7–11 October 2013. It was attended by 91 participants from 15 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the UK.

Following the tradition of publishing the VEIT Proceedings, a selection of papers presented at the event is published in this special issue of Journal of Physics: Conference Series, under the originality and quality criteria of acceptance by the journal, including peer reviewing.

The school comprised of fifteen plenary and three poster sessions. At the plenary sessions, 21 invited talks of general interest were presented by highly renowned international experts in the field, as well as 10 progress reports by young scientists. In total, 66 contributed papers were presented during the poster sessions. There were several scientific highlights covering fundamentals of interaction of fast particles with solids and challenging practical applications ranging from novel techniques for creating hard coatings, optical/protective layers, biocompatible materials to nanosized structures produced by evaporation, sputtering or external irradiation. Latest results were presented on ion-beam synthesis and modification in both low-energy (deposition and film growth) and high-energy (sputtering, implantation) regimes, and processing of solid materials aiming at patterning the surface or at creating nanophase systems for electronic or tribological/wear resistant applications.

Despite the busy scientific program, the atmosphere was relaxed and informal. The early afternoons of most conference days were free to stimulate both scientific and social interaction between participants, which often took place on the beach. The social program included a welcome party, an official dinner, and an outing to historical landmarks in old Sozopol. VEIT 2013 owes its success to many people. The International Advisory Committee shaped the scientific program and ensured high-quality plenary presentations by careful selection of invited speakers. The Local Committee bore the brunt of the organization both at the conference site and in dealing with correspondence, abstracts, and manuscripts for these proceedings. We are grateful to our sponsors, the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands, the companies AllData and Astel, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Republic of Bulgaria for their generosity, which enabled us to support the attendance of students and provided support to deal with mailing, printing, renting the conference site, etc. We are also grateful to the members of the International Advisory Committee — Th Czerwiec, M Dimitrova, G Dinescu, A Ehiasarian, N Guerassimov, I Katardjiev, H Kersten, D Mataras, W Möller, I Petrov, Z Petrovic, B Rauschenbach, M C M (Richard) van de Sanden and M Ürgen — for their continuous concern about the high scientific level and the future of the event, as well as for their contribution to the formation of a new generation of scientists and experts in the field. And, last but not least, we would also like to thank all authors for their valuable contributions to these proceedings and to the school, and all reviewers for their hard and tedious, but very important, work. The next conference in the series will be held in September 2015.

M C M van de Sanden, Miglena Dimitrova and Chavdar Ghelev Guest Editors