Interfaces between dissimilar materials are met everywhere in microelectronics and microsystems. In order to ensure faultless operation of these highly sophisticated structures, it is mandatory to have fundamental understanding of materials and their interactions in the system. In this revised method four fundamental disciplines are combined, (i) thermodynamics of materials, (ii) reaction kinetics, (iii) theory of microstructures, and (iv) stress and strain analysis. The advantages of the method are illustrated in Interfacial Compatibility in Microelectronics which includes, solutions to several common reliability issues in microsystem technology, methods to understand and predict failure mechanisms at interfaces between dissimilar materials, and an approach to DFR based on deep understanding in materials science, rather than on the use of mechanistic tools, such as FMEA.