Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 5/2011
Authors: Gil Bernard , Briot Olivier , Amano Hiroshi 
Published: May 2011

This issue of physica status solidi contains 45 papers presented at the Third International Symposium on Growth of III‐Nitrides (ISGN 3). ISGN 3 follows the successful symposia, ISGN 1 held in Linköping, Sweden, 2006, and ISGN 2 held in Shuzenji, Japan, 2008. This conference, held July 4–7, 2010, in Montpellier, France, was organized by the National Centre of Scientific Research, University Montpellier 2 (UM2), the Institute of Physics at Montpellier, the Conseil Régional Languedoc Roussillon, Montpellier Agglomération, the City of Montpellier, AIXTRON and SAFC Hitech.

Professor Isamu Akasaki, Doctor Honoris Causa of University of Montpellier 2, was the Honorary Chair of ISGN 3.

Group III nitrides are semiconductors developed at the very end of the twentieth century thanks to simultaneous advances in knowledge, industrial, technological and scientific fields, all of which are related to information technologies and concerned with energy saving. More than two decades have passed since the first successful operation of optical and electron devices based on group III nitrides. However, there are still many reports describing technological difficulties related to the fabrication of these devices. The purpose of ISGN 3 was to provide a forum for scientists and engineers from universities, government institutes and industry from around the world to meet and exchange their experiences and discuss their progress in all aspects of the crystal growth of group III nitrides. Montpellier was an ideal venue for hosting ISGN 3, because in 1999, it hosted at its Palace of Congress (le Corum), the Third International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors and the topically related International Symposium on Blue Lasers and Light Emitting Diodes in 2006, both of which had great success.

We were delighted that the symposium was attended by 184 participants from as many as 20 countries in Asia, Europe, America and Africa. The program comprised a plenary talk [1] by Dr. S. V. Novikov, University of Nottingham, 20 invited talks, 36 oral presentations and 110 posters distributed in sessions on bulk growth, semipolar/nonpolar growth, nanostructure growth, crystalline defects and so forth. The in‐depth discussion at the symposium helped engender the belief that the fundamental understanding and improvement of crystal growth technologies will solve many problems related to group III nitride devices.

Finally, we express our gratitude to the plenary and invited speakers and to all members who participated in this symposium. We take this opportunity to thank our colleagues of the Symposium Committee who acted as members of the International Advisory Committee and Program Committee as well as the referees. We are also grateful to the staff of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for their careful attention to the preparation of this proceedings volume.

The series of ISGN symposia will continue to be held in the future, reflecting the progress in the crystal growth techniques for the nitrides while maintaining the traditions of past symposia. We send our best wishes to Dr. Serguey Ivanov and to his colleagues the organizers of ISGN 4 in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2012 for a successful symposium (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)