As the demands put on the polymer/metal interface, particularly by the microelectronics industry, become more and more severe, the necessity for understanding this interface, its properties and its limitations, becomes more and more essential. This requires a broad knowledge of, and a familiarity with, the latest findings in this rapidly advancing field. At the very least, such familiarity requires an exchange of infonnation, particularly among those intimately involved in this field. Communications among many of us in this area have made one fact quite obvious: the facilities provided by existing organizations, scientific and otherwise, do not offer the forum necessary to accomplish this exchange of infonnation. It was for this reason that Jean-Jacques Pireaux, Steven Kowalczyk and I organized the first Metallization of Polymers, a symposium sponsored by the American Chemical Society, which took place in Montreal, September 25-28, 1989; the Proceedings from that symposium were published as ACS Symposium Series 440, (1990). It is this same per­ ceived lack of a proper forum, and the encouragement of my colleagues, that prompted me to organize this meeting, so as to bring to the attention of the participants new instruments, materials, methods, advances, and, particularly, thoughts in the field of polymer metalliza­ tion. The meeting was designed as a workshop, with time being made available throughout for discussion and for the consideration of new findings.

New Instrumentation.- 1. Surface Analysis Using Confocal Raman Micro-spectroscopy.- 2. Ellipsometric Characterization of the Optical Constants of Metals: Thin Film versus Nanoparticle.- 3. Ultra Thin Film Analysis Using the Thermo VG Scientifics Thetaprobe Instrument.- 4. Nanoindentation of Microsprings and Microcantilevers.- Low Permittivity Materials.- 5. Physical and Interfacial Properties of Low Permittivity Polymers: Cyclotene, SiLK and Ultra-Low K.- 6. Mechanical Properties of Cured Silk Low-K Dielectric Films.- 7. Plasma-Polymerized Fluoropolymer Thin Films for Microelectronic Applications.- Polymer Metallization.- 8. Fundamental Aspects of Polymer Metallization.- 9. The Study of Copper Clusters on Dow Cyclotene and Their Stability.- 10. Adsorption of Noble Metal Atoms on Polymers.- 11. Nucleation and Growth of Vapor-Deposited Metal Films on Self-Assembled Monolayers Studied by Multiple Characterization Probes.- Barrier Layers.- 12. Morphological Investigations of Low-k Polymer/Diffusion Barrier Interfaces for IC Metallization.- 13. Chemistry in the Initial Formation of Nitride Barriers on Low-K Dielectrics.- 14. Capabilities and Limitations of RBS to Characterize Hyper-Thin Silicon Compound on Various Polymeric Substrates.- Adhesion Enhancement.- 15. Surface Modifications by Ion-Assisted Reactions.- 16. Plasma and VUV Pretreatments of Polymer Surfaces for Adhesion Enhancement of Electrolessly Deposited Ni or Cu Films.