This special edition compromises a selection of papers presented at the International Conference on Thin Films and Porous Materials (ICTFPM 2008). The main goal of the volume is to report the most recent scientific findings, and to highlight current challenges and opportunities in the promising field of porous materials and thin films. The volume covers: Advances in Deposition Techniques; Characterization of Thin Films; Functionalization and Surface Modification; Magnetic Thin Films and Multilayers; Nanotechnology and Nanostructured Materials; New approaches in Thin Films; Organic Thin Films (polymers, biomolecules, alkyl ...); Porous Materials and Applications; Physics and Chemistry of Thin Films and Interfaces; Single and Multilayer-based devices (Sensors, Photovoltaic, Optoelectronic); Growth Techniques and Application to Thin Films; Thin Films and photonics applications; Thin-Film Related Environmental Devices; New Materials: Modelling and Simulation. The in-depth coverage will make this volume almost a handbook guide to the subject. This volume collects 48 of the papers presented at the May 2008 conference on the deposition, characterization, and uses of thin films. The primarily French and Algerian contributors investigate the physico-chemical properties of hydrogenated amorphous carbon thin films, fluorine-doped silicon oxide films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, zinc oxide thin films grown on silicon substrates, and tin dioxide thin films. Other topics include nanocrystal non-volatile memory devices, a comparison of arylene-vinylene polymers, the effect of chromium and vanadium on nanolayered ternary carbides, and an FET gas sensor based on porous silicon.