3. Acknowledgment

First of all I thank Prof. Selberherr for providing me with the support I could enjoy during the work on this thesis. I am glad that I took the chance to work in this exciting field and I am sure I will look back to this time as the best of my life as a student.

I thank my colleagues for the friendly and helpful atmosphere at work at the university, at visits of conferences, and at numerous other occasions. I hope I could give back my share in the same spirit. I enjoyed my work as a teaching assistant with Profs. Langer and Kosina. Interesting discussions and funny memories I shared with my colleagues, among them especially Ali, Andi G., Andi H., Cerv, Christian, Hajdin, Jong Mun, Mixi, Peter, Robert Klima, Robert Kosik, Rodrigo, Saba, Stephan, Tibor, Tom, Vassil, Willi, and Wolfi are too numerous to mention here. I also thank Prof. Chabicovsky who agreed to participate in the examining committee.

Staying in two months in Japan and working with a company that is a leader in developing new technology and products provides lots of insights. Hence I thank the Advanced Devices R&D Laboratories group at the Sony Atsugi Technology Center near Tokyo for their hospitality and the things I could learn during my stay. I especially enjoyed the many interesting discussions with Kimura-san and Matsumura-san.

Regular visits from partner groups are important for ensuring close and successful cooperation. Thus I thank the the Mechanical Systems Laboratory at the Toshiba R&D Center in Kawasaki for their hospitality during my stays and their gentle introduction to the finesse of the Japanese cuisine. I know you enjoyed your stays in Vienna as much as I enjoyed mine in Kawasaki. Sato-san and Takase-san helped me fighting the technical problems one can expect as a European in Japan, and I thank both of you heartily. Finally Ui-san's demonstration of his work on high density plasma reactors, on which tomorrow's etching processes will be based, was one of the highlights of my stays.

I thank Infineon Technologies in Villach, Austria, for the open and constructive approach to our cooperation. Dr. Fugger and Dr. Häberlen never hesitated to provide me with information and images and I really appreciate your support.

I also thank Dr. Puchner from Cypress Semiconductor for interesting discussions about interconnect lines and the corresponding deposition processes, on whose simulation we worked together. It was always interesting to find out new considerations that have to be taken into account in a commercial setting.

Last, not least, I would like to thank austriamicrosystems and the ``Christian Doppler Forschungsgesellschaft'' (Vienna, Austria) for supporting this thesis. Martin Knaipp and Rainer Minixhofer showed me how stimulating the life in an expanding company is.

Finally I thank my family, to whom I owe years of love and support, to do things my way.