In microelectronics, the device size continues to shrink to improve the performance and functionality, which sets technical challenges for the integrated circuit (IC) fabrication. Novel materials and processing techniques are developed to maintain excellent device performances and structural reliability. Cobalt-based thin films possess numerous applications in microelectronics with the potential to enhance the device performance and reliability. This thesis explores the fabrication, characterization and application of cobalt-based thin films for microelectronics. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique has been applied for depositing cobalt-based thin films, because CVD can produce high quality thin films with excellent conformality in complex 3D architectures required for future microelectronics. / Engineering and Applied Sciences