As device geometries continue to shrink, limitations are encountered with conventional thin film processing techniques. Some of these applications have begun the migration towards atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a means of addressing these limitations. Initial applications have focused on dielectric deposition for DRAM and gate stack, but the migration from fab R&D to production has been slow. Current trends indicate that ALD applications of metallic compounds and elemental metals will actually enter mainstream production at a faster rate than their dielectric counterparts with substantial evaluation activity already at the 45nm node, especially for backend metallization. However, metal ALD process technology, applications, integration, and hardware design are more difficult than those required for dielectric ALD. This presentation will highlight and discuss these critical challenges with emphasis on non-tungsten applications.