Book excerpt: This volume contains written versions of the papers presented at the Second Inter national Conference on Amorphous and Crystalline Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (ICACSC 1988), which was held at Santa Clara University on Decem ber 15 and 16, 1988. The conference followed the First ICACSC held at Howard University, Washington DC, in December 1987 and continued to provide an in ternational forum for discussion and exchange of ideas and results covering the current status of research on SiC and related materials. ICACSC 1988 attracted 105 participants from five countries. The substantial increase in the number of papers compared with the previous year is an indication of the growing interest in this field. Of the 45 papers presented at the conference, 36 refereed manuscripts are included in this volume, while the remaining 9 appear as abstracts. The six invited papers provide detailed reviews of recent results on amorphous and crystalline silicon carbide materials and devices, as well as diamond thin films. The volume is divided into six parts, each covering an important theme of the conference.