This PhD thesis presents a study on the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of silver and ruthenium. The research was started in August 2013, and results  up to September 2018 are included. The lion’s share of the experimental  work was done within the Department of Solid State Sciences at Ghent  University.  The thesis is paper-based and contains four original research articles, published in peer-reviewed journals. The structure of this document is as  follows: First an introductory chapter is given, which provides the research  context and motivation to the reader; this is followed by the four articles  which were reformatted and included as stand-alone chapters; while in the  final chapter conclusions are made. A description of the used experimental  techniques is given in the appendix.  I hope that I have managed to present my contributions to the field of ALD  in a clear and interesting way for both the expert and the layman.