These proceedings contain 11 invited papers and approximately 80 contributed papers presented at this international conference. The topics covered include: - noise theory and mechanisms, including parametric excitation in physical systems, computer simulation of Barkhausen jump field distribution and chaotic oscillations in Josephson junctions; - devices, including thermal noise in a high inductance SQUID, high frequency noise in Schottky barriers diodes and mode fluctuations in semiconductor laser; - biological systems including resistivity fluctuations in ionic solutions; - quantum noise, including properties of low temperature quantum noise and macroscopic quantum tunneling.

Presents and discusses fundamental aspects and key implications of noise and fluctuations in various fields of science, technology and sociology, with special emphasis in 1/f fluctuations in biology. There are contributions from leading international experts.

The volume constitutes the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Noise in Physical Systems and 1/f Fluctuations (ICNF'95) held in Palanga, Lithuania, in the period 29 May - 3 June 1995.International conference of fluctuation phenomena has a rich history. Previous ones were held in St. Louis (USA, 1993), Kyoto (Japan, 1991), Budapest (Hungary, 1989), Montreal (Canada, 1983), etc. The conference proved to be successful in bringing together specialists in fluctuation phenomena in very different areas, and providing a bridge linking theorists and applied scientists involved in the design of new generation of electronic devices. Correspondingly, the volume covers fundamental aspects of noise in various fields of science and modern technology. Mesoscopic fluctuations, noise in high temperature superconductors, in nanoscale structures, in optoelectronic and microwave devices, fluctuation phenomena in biological systems and human body are in the spotlight.

les Houches This Winter School on "The Physics and Fabrication of Microstructures" originated with a European industrial decision to investigate in some detail the potential of custom-designed microstructures for new devices. Beginning in 1985, GEC and THOMSON started a collaboration on these subjects, supported by an ESPRIT grant from the Commission of the European Com munity. To the outside observer of the whole field, it appears clear that the world effort is very largely based in the United States and Japan. It also appears that cooperation and dissemination of results are very well organised outside Europe and act as a major influence on the development of new concepts and devices. In Japan, a main research programme of the Research and Development for Basic Technology for Future Industries is focused on "Future Electron Devices". In Japan and in the United States, many workshops are organised annually in order to bring together the major specialists in industry and academia, allowing fast dissemination of advances and contacts for setting up cooperative efforts.

As is well known, Silicon widely dominates the market of semiconductor devices and circuits, and in particular is well suited for Ultra Large Scale Integration processes. However, a number of III-V compound semiconductor devices and circuits have recently been built, and the contributions in this volume are devoted to those types of materials, which offer a number of interesting properties. Taking into account the great variety of problems encountered and of their mutual correlations when fabricating a circuit or even a device, most of the aspects of III-V microelectronics, from fundamental physics to modelling and technology, from materials to devices and circuits are reviewed. Containing contributions from European researchers of international repute this volume is the definitive reference source for anyone interested in the latest advances and results of current experimental research in III-V microelectronics.

The recent conferences in this series were organised in Montreal (1987), Budapest (1989), Kyoto (1991), St Louis (1993) and Palanga (1995). The aim of the conference was to bring together specialists in fluctuation phenomena from different fields and to make a bridge between theoretical scientists and more applied or engineering oriented researchers. Therefore a broad variety of topics covering the fundamental aspects of noise and fluctuations as well as applications in various fields are addressed. Noise in materials, components, circuits and electronic, biological and other physical systems are discussed.

Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics