New materials development and high yield production lines are key to future generations of integrated circuits (ICs). Material and contamination characterization is therefore an integral part of the semiconductor industry. The capabilities of analytical tools are continuously improving to meet the needs of the National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (NTRS). The analytical improvements include electron and ion beam resolution, detector technology, and surface sensitivity. This paper reviews several ex-situ analytical tools, such as AES, RBS, SIMS, SEM, SIMS, TXRF, TOF-SIMS, XPS, used in today's high technology industries. The strengths and weaknesses of the techniques and their applications will be discussed.