Dr Ehrenfried Zschech is manager of the Materials Analysis Department at AMD Saxony LLC & Co. KG in Dresden, Germany. Advanced Microdevices (AMD) is a global manufacturer of microprocessors and other integrated circuit-based products. AMD's manufacturing facility in Dresden is the company's most advanced and the site also hosts the company's European R&D centre. Dr Zschech was the coordinator of the IT topic of EUROMAT 2003 in Lausanne. This book, although not a proceedings, has resulted from his work for the conference. It collects contributions on materials for information technology applications from the author's of conference papers as well as chapters from other authors in order to create a state-of-the art edited volume on the subject from the world's leading experts in academia and industry. Dr Caroline Whelan is a researcher at the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC) Leuven, Belgium, a leading research institution in microelectronics funded by industry, government, ESA and the EU. Dr Thomas Mikolajick is a researcher at Infineon Technologies AG, a German-based IC products manufacturers. Infineon's R&D activities cover innovations in nano technologies, photonics, high frequency circuits, mixed signal circuits, electronic biosensors, systems technology, emerging applications.