Preface Conference Report 23rd International Summer School on Vacuum, Electron and Ion Technologies 2023

The International Summer School on Vacuum, Electron and Ion Technologies (VEIT) has been organized biennially since 1978, when the series of VEIT Schools was launched by the Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, with the aim to act as a forum for exchange and dissemination of knowledge and ideas on the latest developments in electron-, ion-, and plasma-assisted technologies. The organizers of the 2023 edition of the event were the Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria and the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The School is a major scientific event and a meeting place for young scientists involved in research and development associated with high-tech industries. Many former School participants went on to become successful scientists in their field of research in leading institutions and companies all over the world. The School Proceedings have been published in special issues of the international journals Vacuum, Plasma Processes and Polymers, Journal of Physics: Conference Series.
The twenty-third edition of VEIT was held in the Black Sea resort Sozopol, Bulgaria, from 18 to 22 September 2023. It was attended by 108 participants (33 students and young researchers) from 16 countries on two continents: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Ukraine, UK.
The School Program covered a large spectrum of fundamental problems of the nanotechnologies, the interaction of charged particles with solid surfaces, the deposition and characterization of thin films, which were balanced out by reports on a wide range of significant high-technology applications – from equipment for deposition of hard coatings or thin optical/protective films to nanostructures prepared via evaporation, sputtering or irradiation. By their subjects, the lectures and reports were grouped for presentation and discussion in three sessions, each of them including oral presentations at plenary sessions and posters. List of Chairs of the School, International Advisory Committee, Local Organizing Committee, Invited Speakers, Participants are available in the pdf.