These proceedings contain the majority of papers presented atSymposium D, "Group IV heterostructures, physics and devices(Si,Ge,C,&agr;-Sn)", of the Spring Meeting of the EuropeanMaterials Research Society, held at the Congress Centre,Strasbourg, France, 4-7 June 1996. This Symposium was attendedby about 150 scientists from throughout the world, among whom 18were invited speakers.

The aim of the Symposium was to discussthe most recent results in all fields of Group IVheterostructures and devices from fundamental physics toindustrial applications. Regular and invited contributions werethen welcomed which addressed the different aspects of growth,the effects of strain relaxation, particularly in SiGeC alloys,the basic optical and electrical properties of heterostructuresand low-dimensional structures, the microelectronic andoptoelectronics, such as rare-earth doping techniques, was alsoselected. Except for minor changes, the order of papers presentedin this special issue of Thin Solid Films closely follows theorder of topics listed above as well as the order of sessions atthe Symposium.

These proceedings contain the majority of papers presented atSymposium D, "Group IV heterostructures, physics and devices(Si,Ge,C,&agr;-Sn)", of the Spring Meeting of the EuropeanMaterials Research Society, held at the Congress Centre,Strasbourg, France, 4-7 June 1996. This Symposium was attendedby about 150 scientists from throughout the world, among whom 18were invited speakers.

The aim of the Symposium was to discussthe most recent results in all fields of Group IVheterostructures and devices from fundamental physics toindustrial applications. Regular and invited contributions werethen welcomed which addressed the different aspects of growth,the effects of strain relaxation, particularly in SiGeC alloys,the basic optical and electrical properties of heterostructuresand low-dimensional structures, the microelectronic andoptoelectronics, such as rare-earth doping techniques, was alsoselected. Except for minor changes, the order of papers presentedin this special issue of Thin Solid Films closely follows theorder of topics listed above as well as the order of sessions atthe Symposium.