For functional coatings, with optical, magnetic or otherwise applications, two important effects have to be addressed during deposition. First, a trade-off between enhanced surface mobility and defect generation has to be achieved with the creation of increased interface roughness and electronic defect density vs. stress relaxation and texture formation. A specific balance has to be found for each application. Secondly, top-down approaches for formation of nanostructures contrast with bottom-up methods. Nanospheres are nowadays employed as masks for nanostructures while the understanding and utilization of self-organization phenomena is still improving, respective expanding. Nevertheless, a large portfolio of deposition methods is available, allowing for the formation of sophisticated nanostructures as long as the underlying processes are understood.