The Second International Conference on Ion Formation from Organic Solids (IFOS II) was held at the University of MUnster, Federal Republic of Germa ny, from September 7 to 9, 1982. The subject of the conference was the rapid ly developing field of ion formation from ~nvolatile, thermally labile organ ic compounds. Rapid progress has been made in this field in the last few years, mainly because of the discovery of unexpected new ionization proces ses such as sputtering and laser-induced desorption. The aim of the conference was twofold: to acquire a basic understanding of these "soft" ionization processes on the one hand, and to examine their present and future analytical applications on the other. ~Je sought to bring. together scientists working in fundamental as well as applied research. The participants represented such widely varied fields as pure and applied phys ics and chemistry, biochemistry, nuclear and solid-state physics, medicine, and pharmacology. These proceedings contain all of the papers presented at the conference. Six review papers cover the fundamentals of different ionization processes. The authors of these reviews were asked to give up-to-date surveys in cluding characteristics of spectra, the influence of excitation parameters, tentative models for ion formation processes, and assessments of their ana lytical applications. These reviews are followed by 26 contributed papers dealing with more specialized aspects of the ionization processes and their analytical applications.

Following the biannual meetings in MUnster (1977) and Stanford (1979) the Third International Conference on Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy was held in Budapest from August 31 to September 5, 1981. The Conference was attended by about 250 participants. The success of the 1981 Conference in Budapest was especially due to the excellent preparation and organization by the Local Organizing Committee. We would also like to acknowledge the generous hospitality and cooperation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Japan was chosen to be the location for the next conference in 1983. SIMS conferences are devoted to two main issues: improving the application of SIMS in different and especially new fields, and understanding the ion formation process. Needless to say, there is a very strong interaction be tween these two issues. The major reason for the rapid increase in SIMS activities in the last few years is the fact that SIMS is a powerful tool for bulk, thin-film, and surface analysis. Today it is extensively and successfully applied in such different fields as depth profiling and imaging of semiconductor devices, in isotope analysis of minerals, in imaging biological tissues, in the study of catalysts and catalytic reactions, in oxide-layer analysis on metals in drug detection, and in the analysis of body fluids.

This volume contains full proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS-IV), held in the Minoo-Kanko Hotel, Osaka, Japan, from November 13th to 19th, 1983. Coordinated by a local or ganizing committee under the auspices of the international organizing com mittee, it followed earlier conferences held in MUnster (1977), Stanford (1979), and Budapest (1981). The conference was attended by about 250 participants from 18 countries, and 130 papers including 24 invited ones were presented. Reflecting the rap idly expanding activities in the SIMS field, informative papers were pre sented containing up-to-date information on SIMS and various related fields. The proceedings focussed upon six main issues: (1) Fundamentals of sput tering and secondary ion formation. (2) Recent progress in instrumentation, including submicron SIMS and image processing. (3) SIMS combined with other surface analysis techniques. (4) Outstanding SIMS-related analytical methods such as laser-microprobe SIMS, sputtered neutral mass spectrometry, mass spectrometry of sputtered neutrals by multi-photon resonance ionization, and accelerator-based SIMS. (5) Organic SIMS and FAB which has recently become a rapidly expanding technique in pharmacy, biotechnology, etc. (6) Appl ica tions of SIMS to various fields such as metallurgy, geology, and biology, including depth profiling of semiconductors, and analysis of inorganic mate rials. As a venue for the exchange of ideas and information concerning all the above issues, the conference proved a great success."

This volume contains the proceedings of the Tenth International Converence on Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS X). It covers a diverse field of research ranging from environmental problems to depth profiling and semiconductors. In doing so, it provides an excellent overview of current research and technology by acknowledged experts in their specialised fields.