Acknowledgments

First of all I am very grateful to Professor Siegfried SELBERHERR for his support through out my time at the Institute of Microelectronics. I appreciate also that he took the time to correct my thesis very thoroughly.

Professor Hajdin CERIC gave me the opportunity to work in the field of electromigration, funded by his Christian Doppler Laboratory for Reliability Issues in Microelectronics, and supported me with various discussions, suggestions, and comments.

I am very glad, that Professor Erasmus LANGER managed all the bureaucratic and organizational tasks and by this kept my time free for the project.

Further, I thank Professor Manfred KALTENBACHER for serving on my examination committee.

Professor Roberto LACERDA de ORIO introduced me to the topic of electromigration and eased the start of my doctoral program, while Dr. Thomas WINDBACHER and Dr. Lado FILIPOVIC reviewed my thesis.