Academic News
Thin Film Optics and Coating Technology authored by Dr. Cheng-Chung Lee, Honorary Chair Professor at the Department of Optics and Photonics of National Central University, was elected one of “the most influential research books” in the field of engineering and technologies by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in May 2020. Ever since the book’s first publication in 1999, there have been nine editions up to date. The textbook is considered the bible in the field of thin-film optics. It benefits hundreds of thousands of students and has a profound influence in academia, business fields, and industries of daily commodities.
Dr. Cheng-Chung Lee extracted key points from the teaching handouts that he has been writing for 15 years. He rewrote them, spent a year editing them, and finally published Thin Film Optics and Coating Technology. The research book that has been published for more than two decades is updated to the ninth edition up to date, and its total circulation around the globe is more than 13,500. Dr. Lee’s book receives wide popularity not only in Taiwan but also in China and Japan, and it is regarded as one of the most important reference books in the teaching of coating techniques and the development of the coating industry.
In 2002, ULVAC Inc. in Japan translated the third edition of Dr. Lee’s book into Japanese. As one of the leading industrial countries in the world, Japan owns advanced coating technology, yet the Japanese highly praise the scientific argumentation in Dr. Lee’s book. Some engineering technologies in Dr. Lee’s research have received sponsorship from ULVAC Inc. and Nikon Corporation. In the coating industry of Taiwan, those technologies are also considered practical, and it contributes to numerous university-industry cooperative projects and technology transfers.
Dr. Lee’s book is the key to the launching, developing, and maturing of the optical coating industry in Taiwan. Today, Taiwan’s optical coating industry is mature enough to independently design and fabricate films and massively export products to the world, and Dr. Lee deserves all the credit.
