PREFACEThe issue covers selected papers presented during SEMTherm 2017 - the Joint Event of two International Cyclic Conferences: MicroTherm – Microtechnology and Thermal Problems in Electronics and SENM – Smart Engineering of New Materials. The Duoconference was held in Lodz, Poland on 26-29 June 2017. It gathered about 150 participants from 16 countries in Lodz – beautiful, post-industrial city located in the centre of Poland.MicroTherm is an International Conference on Microtechnology and Thermal Problems in Electronics being organised every two years, since 1996. The success of the first seminar devoted to thermal management aspects, and the successive conferences has led us to the twelve edition. Since the first meeting, the scope of the Conference has expanded, following the electronics progress. Now, it covers the subjects connected with extreme temperature electronics, sensors and measurement techniques, modelling, simulation, wide band-gap materials, packaging and reliability, renewable energy sources and photonics with special emphasis on microelectronic technologies. Traditionally, the programme of MicroTherm 2017, despite of invited talks and regular sessions in a form of planar discussions and poster presentations, included also Students’ Session. The latter gave an opportunity for students and young researchers to present their first achievements in the field of science.The tradition of SENM dates back to 1985 when the First International Conference on Diamond Crystallization under Reduced Pressure was held in Jabłonna in Poland. Since then, the Conference has been organised regularly every five years, and from 2015, it is the biennial event. From the early beginning, the main aim of this conference has been the creation of the international forum of scientists for the presentation of the newest achievements and investigation results in vacuum and plasma techniques, synthesis, characterisation and application of diamond, its derivatives and other wide bandgap materials. Over time, the scope of the conference has expanded to include nanomaterials, biomaterials and new functional materials, in the range of production, design and optimisation of the synthesis and modification technologies.Owing to the overlapping scopes of MicroTherm and SENM conferences, organisation of the Joint Event SEMTherm has been widely appreciated. Details about the forthcoming event will be available at the duoconference website soon.Ewa Raj and Katarzyna ZnajdekEditors