Atomic layer deposition (ALD), a gas-phase thin film deposition technique based on repeated, self-terminating gas-solid reactions, has become the method of choice in semiconductor manufacturing and many other technological areas for depositing thin conformal inorganic material layers for various applications. ALD has been discovered and developed independently, at least twice, under different names: atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) and molecular layering. ALE, dating back to 1974 in Finland, has been commonly known as the origin of ALD, while work done since the 1960s in the Soviet Union under the name "molecular layering" (and sometimes other names) has remained much less known. The virtual project on the history of ALD (VPHA) is a volunteer-based effort with open participation, set up to make the early days of ALD more transparent. In VPHA, started in July 2013, the target is to list, read and comment on all early ALD academic and patent literature up to 1986. VPHA has resulted in two essays and several presentations at international conferences. This paper, based on a poster presentation at the 16th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition in Dublin, Ireland, 2016, presents a recommended reading list of early ALD publications, created collectively by the VPHA participants through voting. The list contains 22 publications from Finland, Japan, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. Up to now, a balanced overview regarding the early history of ALD has been missing; the current list is an attempt to remedy this deficiency.

Wool is a fully sustainable renewable resource with low environmental impact. The technological characteristics make wools particularly suitable for different applications such as thermo-acoustic insulation, agricultural amendment, biomedical polymers, etc. Due to the accumulation and deposition of chemicals on fleece, sheep fleece represents a specific chemical indicator, and the concentration of the elements it contains reflects the feed and nutrition quality and the general health status as well as the climatic and environmental conditions. In addition, it has been shown that wool fibers are good bio-indicators of the environmental status (soil, water and air pollution). Furthermore, the presence of veterinary drug residues in raw wool is a major concern for human health and can have negative effects on the quality of wool based products. Among the most common veterinary drugs, avermectins are macrocyclic lactones, which have high anthelmintic, insecticide and acaricide activity. In order to understand whether the wool fibers can be vehicle of exposure to toxic substances both for humans and the environment, we developed a method to assess the presence of drug residues derived from veterinary practices. The aim of this work was to identify and quantify Avermectins in Sarda sheep wool by using High performance liquid chromatography coupled with Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). Microwave assisted extraction (MAE), an eco-friendly method, was optimized determining the best combination of type of solvent, solventamount, and duration of the extraction. Taking into account that wool is a complex matrix that contains fat, is rich in protein, and often interferes with the analytical procedures, SPE Oasis hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB) cartridges extraction method was selected as a cleanup step. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Gemini C18 column using a linear gradient of methanol-ammonium formate 1 mmol containing 0.1% formic acid. The ionization was obtained in Electrospray (ESI) operating in positive ion mode. The mass spectrometer worked in tSIM-dd MS/MS mode with the fragmentation of precursor ions in the HCD cell. The complete MS acquisition was performed with resolving power FWHM 70000 and 17500 for the parent ions to fragment ions with a mass accuracy of 5 ppm. The validated method was finally applied to the analysis of real wool samples obtained from sheep of different areas of Sardinia.