Boron since Asbury Park: The first International boron Conference September 18‐19, 1959

During the late 1950’s a Department of Defense agency decided the potential for the production of a very high temperature electronic device using single crystal boron justified an extended study of the chemistry and metallurgy of the element applying techniques then being used on silicon. These studies led to the first International Conference. The response to that conference led to a continuing series of conferences, all held in Europe until now. This paper discusses work on the production of high purity single crystals, and their evaluation. These studies led to the use of this high purity boron to produce arsenides and phosphides and their evaluation. A whole new area of study was made possible by this effort in that high purity isotope of boron are now available for use in all these evaluations. Isotopic boron has proven to be of use in electronics, medical applications and of course in nuclear physics. The nuclear applications are for high purity compounds including oxides, carbides and nitrides. Exa...