Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 6/S2
Authors: Grandjean Nicolas , Ilegems Marc , Suski Tadek , Butté Raphaël 
Published: July 2009

The 5th International Workshop on Nitride Semiconductors (IWN 2008) took place from 6–10 October 2008 at the Montreux Music and Convention Centre (2M2C) in Montreux, Switzerland. The event, organized by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), continues the series of previous nitride workshops which started in Nagoya, Japan (IWN 2000), followed by meetings in Aachen, Germany (IWN 2002), Pittsburgh, USA (IWN 2004) and Kyoto, Japan (IWN 2006).

The main areas of research on III‐nitrides were presented during full day plenary sessions on the first two days and on the closing day of the meeting, followed by seven parallel workshop (WS) sessions during the third and fourth day of the meeting, each workshop being organized around a specific aspect of current interest: Substrates for nitride epitaxy (WS1), Challenging materials issues: InN and high In‐content alloys (WS2a), AlN and high Al‐content alloys (WS2b), Non‐polar epitaxy (WS2c), Nanostructures (WS3), Novel physical concepts and devices (WS4), Optoelectronics‐1: materials and physics (WS5), Optoelectronics‐2: technology and devices (WS6), and Electronic devices (WS7). Finally, the workshop organizers presented the main conclusions from the individual workshops during the closing plenary sessions on the final day of the meeting.

During the meeting a total of 35 invited lectures were given, divided between the plenary sessions and workshop sessions. A total of 498 contributed papers were presented, selected by the Program Committee out of 623 (regular) and 25 (late) abstracts submitted. Of these, 12 regular and late papers of major interest were presented during the plenary sessions, 255 were presented during the parallel workshop sessions, and 236 were presented as posters.

The International Workshop on Nitride Semiconductors and the International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors, held in alternating years, constitute the major conferences devoted to the science and technology of III‐nitride semiconductor materials and devices, covering materials growth and processing, physics of electronic and optical processes, and advanced electronic and photonic devices. The materials covered include all III‐nitride compounds and heterostructures.

The meeting attracted 710 participants, reflecting the large interest in the field driven by the huge application potential of the nitride materials family, probably second only to the silicon field. Aside from visible to near UV light emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers, which are currently already making major inroads in the laser and general lighting markets, future developments in high‐power high‐speed electronics, high voltage rectifiers, and industrial sensors promise to have a large impact and are expected to establish new performance limits in the semiconductor field. The interest was also manifested by the presence of 20 companies participating in the industrial exhibit.

The present proceedings, published in Phys. Status Solidi A 206(6), Phys. Status Solidi B 246(6) and Phys. Status Solidi C 6(S2) (2009), contain 221 papers, including 12 invited papers, which cover the entire range of topics discussed during the technical sessions including contributions on hot topics such as non‐polar and semi‐polar III‐nitride epilayers and heterostructures, UV and green LEDs, the origin of the efficiency droop of LEDs, and the performance and reliability of high electron mobility transistors to cite only a few examples. Raphaël Butté, as Proceedings Editor, wishes to warmly thank the numerous referees, who contributed through their detailed reports to the completion of this volume, as well as the editorial and technical staff of physica status solidi (with special thanks addressed to Stefan Hildebrandt and Julia Huebner) for their diligence, their availability, and their advice, which greatly helped completing the reviewing process in seven months.

Finally we would like to thank the members of the IWN International Advisory Committee for their participation in the selection of the invited speakers and for their general support and encouragement, and the members of the Program Committee, and in particular the organizers of the topical workshops, for their efforts in selecting and reviewing the papers and in organizing the workshop sessions. Our thanks also go to the institutional and industrial sponsors – without their help the workshop would not have been possible –, to the technical staff of the 2M2C and to the EPFL staff members and students who made this meeting a success. In particular, we would like to mention the contributions of Carole Preciado, Aline Gruaz, Virginie Ledouble, and Oana Chiper for the administrative and local arrangements, of Jelena Ristic and Denis Martin for organizing the industrial exhibit, and of Dobri Simeonov for the design of the IWN 2008 website and the on‐line management of the registrations, abstract submission, and program guide (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)