The Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC) is a nonprofit professional and educational organization, dedicated to the development of equipment and processes for high-volume production of coatings using vacuum-based processes. Proceedings volumes published by the SVC contain manuscripts presented at the Annual Technical Conference. The 41st Conference (1998) was held in Boston, MA; the 42nd Conference (1999) was held in Chicago, IL; the 43rd Conference (2000) was held in Denver, CO; the 44th Conference (2001) was held in Philadelphia, PA; and the 45th Conference was held in Lake Buena Vista, FL. These serialized volumes provide views of specialized topics and frequently offer comprehensive overviews of rapidly developing areas, such as vacuum web coating, process control and instrumentation, optical coating, plasma processing, tribological and wear coating, decorative and functional coating, large area coating, and emerging technologies. The series is registered with the Library of Congress as Series ISSN 0737-5921.