Summary of the 6th European Workshop on Thermoelectrics of the European Thermoelectric Society, September 21-22, 2001

With 82 participants from 19 countries including Japan and the USA the smaller brother of the annual ICT-conference established its position as an important second meeting of the thermoelectric family.  It is also a matter of fact that this time the workshop changed its character towards a specialized conference, but as well it kept the workshop character since there was enough time for discussion in IPM's large ground floor. There, during both days the poster session and industrial exhibitors invited for scientific exchange.

Below the main scientific topics are ranked according to the number of contributions (oral and poster ).

John Stockholm started with a summery of the ICT 2001 in Beijing. Other invited lectures were given by Tito Huber, Yoshinobu Fujishiro, and Harald Böttner.

Tito Huber presented a remarkable overview about his nanowire research on ultrafine bismuth. This talk made clear to everyone that the "nano-field" will keep thermoelectricians busy and that we can expect further insight into this particular problem.

Yoshinobu Fujishiro highlighted the progress for conductive oxid materials of the Co₃O₄ mixed oxide family such as (Ca, Sr, Ba)₂CoO₃ or NaCoTiO-oxides. This research will perhaps lead to a success similar to that of superconductive material.

Finally Harald Böttner presented a complete thin film thermoelectric microdevice working as Peltier cooler - netcooling ~ 12 K - using 20 µm thick sputtered V-VI materials. This kind of device will meet demands of small dimensions and high speed.

For the first time in the history of the ETS workshop a poster was awarded. The prize was given to J. Leszczynski as presenting author and K. Wojciechowski and A. Malecki as co-authors, all from Cracow/Poland, for their contribution "Phyiscal Properties of Te-Doped CoSb₃".

Never forget about the social program. We spend a nice evening in the typical local "Baden" atmosphere at the Kybfelsen Restaurant in Freiburg-Günterstal - this place you should keep in mind if ever you will travel to the Black Forest. The farewell evening was combined with a leisurely walk to the nearby "Waldschänke" St. Ottilien, also a nice place for scientific discussion.

The main part of a large workshop is the scientific one, but it does not work without a perfect organization in the background. All participants have to thank Birgit Hundrieser for her enormous work and her patience in solving all the problems, bigger and smaller ones.

The Freiburg meeting is over. We will meet again in 2002 in Pamplona, which will host the 7th European workshop.

See you again in Spain.

Harald Böttner,
Secretary of ETS