This course is intended for people with a basic background in materials science who need to understand the broad range of techniques available to characterize thick films, thin films, and surfaces. The course is appropriate for technicians, engineers, and managers who perform or specify characterization work as well as students seeking a broad understanding of the field. The tutorial examines a broad range of important properties of discusses how film thickness may cause measured values/performance to differ from bulk properties. Generic differences between counting and spectroscopic techniques are presented and available “probes” are identified.