We have investigated the mechanisms of epitaxial development and functional properties of oxide thin films (Ce 0.9 Zr 0.1 O 2-y , LaNiO 3 and Ba 0.8 Sr 0.2 TiO 3) grown on single crystal substrates (Y 2 O 3 :ZrO 2 , LaAlO 3 and SrTiO 3) by the chemical solution deposition approach. Rapid thermal annealing furnaces are very powerful tools in this study providing valuable information of the early stages of nucleation, the kinetics of epitaxial film growth and the coarsening of nanocrystalline phases. Advanced transmission electron microscopies, x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy are employed to investigate the film microstructure and morphology, microstrain relaxation and epitaxial crystallization. We demonstrate that the isothermal evolution towards epitaxial film growth follows a self-limited process driven by atomic diffusion, and surface and interface energy minimization. All investigated oxides