To build a large integration of circuits on a semiconductor chip, a composite of thin film materials of extremely small dimensions is used. For example, metallic films serve as interconnectors, gates, contacts, diffusion barriers, interfacial bonds, passivation coatings and adhesive layers, and so they are making interfaces between themselves as well as to semiconductors and insulators. The compatibility between neighboring layers and the degradation of these films and their interfaces are crucial to device yield and reliability. These problems may become more serious when we reduce the device dimensions. A review of a simple silicon device will be presented in order to illustrate some of the material compatibility and degradation problems such as contact stability and electromigration. The review will not emphasize the device performance but rather the connection between the driving force and the corresponding kinetic changes in thin films.