studied in bulk materials. It will be possible to follow the kinetics of processes such as precipitation, phase decomposition, coarsening, and damage accumulation in real time. These advanced capabilities for microstructural and nanostructural research and evaluation will provide important fundamental information directly related to the processing, behavior, and reliability of advanced materials.

Many in the materials field believe deeply that the United States has a critical need for wholly different types of major national facilities, that the country needs facilities that concentrate directly on problems of industrial importance in ways that can help U.S. materials-related industries gain or maintain a competitive edge in the international arena.

A number of state initiatives aim to address this problem. But at the national level the United States has nothing of the scope of the Fraunhofer institutes in West Germany or the quite different Japanese initiatives in the materials field. In 1988 alone, for example, Japan initiated two major new research consortia in the materials field. One of these, in the field of superconductivity, has funding commitments of approximately $26 million per year for 10 years. (This figure does not include the salaries of the estimated 100 researchers to be involved.) The second initiative is in the field of forming of semisolid metals and composites. It is funded at about $30 million for 5 to 7 years (again excluding salaries of researchers).

Modern advanced materials almost invariably require the most sophisticated synthesis and processing facilities. For example, electronic materials such as semiconductor crystals, epitaxial layers, fabricated chips, and optical fibers frequently must meet impurity requirements at the sub-parts-per-billion level to be useful for fundamental studies or applications. Consequently, clean rooms are now a normal requirement for any serious research capability in electronic materials. Typical clean-room costs are in the range of $100,000 to $1 million depending on size and class. Chip fabrication facilities, now a normal requirement for teaching and university device research, are even more expensive. Preparation of many electronic materials requires extremely poisonous reagents. For example, III–V semiconductors often require arsine and metallo-organics that are 10 times more lethal than hydrogen cyanide. A typical laboratory preparative facility for arsine use costs from $100,000 to $1 million.

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) gives a finesse in preparation unequaled by any other technique. Control is literally at the atomic level. Novel structures exhibiting new quantum physics can be prepared. Novel devices have been fabricated. Future possibilities, especially those beyond the III–V semiconductors in which most of the work to date has taken place, are just

Front Matter (R1-R26)

Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations (1-18)

1. What is Materials Science and Engineering (19-34)

2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security (35-73)

3. Research Opportunities and Functional Roles of Materials (74-109)

4. Research Opportunities and the Elements of Materials Science and Engineering (110-140)

5. Manpower and Education in Materials Science and Engineering (141-161)

6. Resources for Research in Materials Science and Engineering (162-185)

7. Comparisons of Efforts in Materials Science and Engineering of Selected Nations (186-206)

Appendix A: Synthesis (207-223)

Appendix B: Processing (224-241)

Appendix C: Performance (242-254)

Appendix D: Instrumentation (255-268)

Appendix E: Analysis and Modeling (269-280)

Index (281-294)

Plates (295-296)