contrast, the equilibrium segregated state, by definition, is the lowest energy state in a system that exhibits equilibrium segregation, and the extent of the segregation effect decreases with increasing temperature. The details of non-equilibrium segregation are not going to be discussed here, but can be found in the review by Harries and Marwick. Importance Segregation of a solute to surfaces and grain boundaries in a solid produces a section of material with a discrete composition and its own set of properties that can have important (and often deleterious) effects on the overall properties of the material. These 'zones' with an increased concentration of solute can be thought of as the cement between the bricks of a building. The structural integrity of the building depends not only on the material properties of the brick, but also greatly on the properties of the long lines of mortar in between. Segregation to grain boundaries, for example, can lead to grain boundary fracture as a result of temper brittleness, creep embrittlement, stress relief cracking of weldments, hydrogen embrittlement, environmentally assisted fatigue, grain boundary corrosion, and some kinds of intergranular stress corrosion cracking. A very interesting and important field of study of impurity segregation processes involves AES of grain boundaries of materials. This technique includes tensile fracturing of special specimens directly inside the UHV chamber of the Auger Electron Spectrometer that was developed by Ilyin. Segregation to grain boundaries can also affect their respective migration rates, and so affects sinterability, as well as the grain boundary diffusivity (although sometimes these effects can be used advantageously). Segregation to free surfaces also has important consequences involving the purity of metallurgical samples. Because of the favorable segregation of some impurities to the surface of the material, a very small concentration of impurity in the bulk of the sample can lead to a very significant coverage of the impurity on a cleaved surface of the sample. In applications where an ultra-pure surface is needed (for example, in some nanotechnology applications), the segregation of impurities to surfaces requires a much higher purity of bulk material than would be needed if segregation effects did not exist. The following figure illustrates this concept with two cases in which the total fraction of impurity atoms is 0.25 (25 impurity atoms in 100 total). In the representation on the left, these impurities are equally distributed throughout the sample, and so the fractional surface coverage