The unprecedented growth in the semiconductor, electronics, and storage industries is the result of continued miniaturization of circuit devices, increases in chip functionality, and increased storage capacity and performance, along with a decrease in per-function cost. Hardware shrinkage has taken place leading to similar decreases in the dimensions of interconnection wires, contact metallization, and magnetic storage footprints. The important role of surfaces, interfaces, defects, and impurities has raised serious materials questions about how to control the properties of polycrystalline thin films used in applications requiring tight performance tolerances and the understanding of these, during the evolution of various film properties with time and temperature, is critical to the successful design and development of smaller devices. This book, first published in 2001, focuses on the directions taken to understand and control the properties of polycrystalline materials. Topics include: magnetic thin films and structures; polycrystalline metal films - microstructure and grain evolution and stress and mechanical properties of thin films.
