This volume is a collection of papers presented at the 2001 International Conference on Rapid Heat Treatment (RTP 2001), held at Ise Shima, Mie, from 14 to 16 November 2001. This is the second successful conference of the first team A successful international RTP conference was held in Hokkaido in 1997.

RTP 2001 covered the latest developments in RTP and other short-term treatment aimed at continuously pointing to the future direction of silicon ULSI devices and semiconductor devices II-VI and III-V. This book covers the following areas: advanced MOS gate stack and integration techniques and advancd channel geometry including shallow intersection, SiGe, heterogeneous structure, new metal, interconnect, silicidation, low k materials, thin insulators including dielectric gates and high k materials, Thin film deposition including SiGe, SOI and SiC, process and device modeling, laser-assisted crystallization and TFT device manufacturing techniques, temperature control and slip-free techniques..