Various industries and universities have aimed their activities toward the development of highly sensitive techniques capable of studying ultrathin polymer films. Provides researchers with a working description of the principles of operation, areas of application and data analysis methods for some of the newly developed techniques, as well as sufficient references for future in-depth studies of thin polymer films. The techniques covered are divided into two groups--bulk property measurements and surface/interface property measurements--with chapters covering microdielectrometry, stress measurement by x-ray diffraction, laser interferometry, ion beam analysis, photothermal analysis, and XPS/SIMS/AES, among other techniques. Abstracts for each of the chapters are conveniently located in the preface.