"Conventional demands for development in semiconductor industry are changing as the Moore’s Law approaching to its limits. Continuous decrease in the size of the transistors is coming close to atomic levels creating a fundamental barrier for further process developments as the semiconductor manufacturing is established today . Growth of thin films and inherent stress development within the film and film/substrate interface are critical for multiple phases of microelectronics manufacturing. Particularly, protective oxides of metal films are foreseen to have wide applications as (i) an interfacial layer to improve the adhesion and/or limit penetration of reactive chemicals of a deposited film (ii) as a subtractive layer to achieve selective material removal and (iii) as a nanofilm with inherent self growth limiting capability that could be used for nanoscale electronics manufacturing. Fundamental understanding of the proposed research is expected to be utilized in many other fields such as in biological systems to improve corrosion on bio-implants and, applications in which the interface and thin film properties affect permeation of reactive chemicals such as fusion reactor design or as ferroelectric capacitors where hydrogen permeation detoriates device functionality. Dr. Basim, the Principal Investigator of this study has been actively involved in semiconductor research and development for more than ten years at major semiconductor companies in US. Her expertise is on integration of newly adapted semiconductor processes, defect reduction during manufacturing and chemical and mechanical interactions on thin films. She will initiate her research at Ozyegin University, Mechanical Engineering Department with the support of the IRG funds if awarded. Dr. Basim’s new appointment at Ozyegin University is expected to bring all these expertise and experience to E.U. to promote the ongoing research and development."