Thin films open new fields in science and technology. Especially polymer-metal nanocomposites, polymeric and colloidal thin films play an ever increasing role in modern information and energy science. In the case of metal-polymer nanocomposites, this is owing to their outstanding physical properties, being an effect of the confinement of the electrons in the nanoscopic structure, while polymeric and colloidal thin films allow for installing large scale ordered arrays. To tailor these functional films, a multitude of deposition methods is used. To name just a few are solution casting [1,2] or sputter deposition [3,4]. To obtain the structure-function relationship a multitude of methods is applied. On the one hand, structural information on the nanometer to micrometer scale is obtained using grazing incidence small- and wide-angle x-ray scattering [5]. Especially the the combination of micro- and nanobeams and special techniques such as GISAXS-tomography allow for spatially resolved investigations of heterogeneous structures on multiple length scales [6,7]. On the other hand, to obtain the structure-function relationship, the in-situ combination with complementary methods is very useful. This includes the novel combination with imaging ellipsometry or microfluidic setups [9]. I will present the state-of-the art research examples and will give an outlook on future trends in these areas.

References:
　　[1] S. V. Roth, A. Rothkirch, T. Autenrieth, R. Gehrke, T. Wroblewski, M. C. Burghammer, C. Riekel, L. Schulz, R. Hengstler, and P. Müller-Buschbaum, Langmuir, 26, 1496 (2010)
　　[2] S. V. Roth, T. Autenrieth, G. Grübel, C. Riekel, M. Burghammer, R. Hengstler, L. Schulz, and P. Müller-Buschbaum, Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 091915 (2007)
　　[3] A. Buffet, M. M. Abul Kashem, K. Schlage, S. Couet, R. Röhlsberger, A. Rothkirch, G. Herzog, E. Metwalli, R. Meier, G. Kaune, M. Rawolle, P. Müller-Buschbaum, R. Gehrke, and S.V. Roth, Langmuir 27, 343 (2011)
　　[4] S.V. Roth, H. Walter, M. Burghammer, C. Riekel, B. Lengeler, C. Schroer, M. Kuhlmann, T. Walther, A. Sehrbrock, R. Domnick, P. Müller-Buschbaum, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 021910 (2006)
　　[5] J. Perlich, _ J. Rubeck, S. Botta, R. Gehrke, S. V. Roth, M. A. Ruderer, S. M. Prams, M. Rawolle, Q. Zhong, V. Körstgens, and P. Müller-Buschbaum, Rev. Sci. Instr. 81, 105105 (2010)
　　[6] C. G. Schroer, M. Kuhlmann, S. V. Roth, and R. Gehrke, N. Stribeck and A. Almendarez-Camarillo, B. Lengeler, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 164102 (2006)
　　[7] M. Kuhlmann, J. M. Feldkamp, J. Patommel, S. V. Roth, A. Timmann, R. Gehrke, Peter Müller-Buschbaum and C. G. Schroer, Langmuir  25, 7241 (2009)
　　[8] S.V. Roth, G. Herzog, V. Körstgens, A Buffet, M. Schwartzkopf, J. Perlich, M. M. Abul Kashem, R. Döhrmann, R. Gehrke, A. Rothkirch, K. Stassig, W. Wurth, G. Benecke, C. Li, P. Fratzl, M. Rawolle and P. Müller-Buschbaum, J. Phys: Cond. Matter, accepted (2011)
　　[9] E. Metwalli, J.-F. Moulin, J. Perlich, W. Wang, A. Diethert, S. V. Roth and P. Müller-Buschbaum, Langmuir 25, 11815 (2009)