TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The reactant and the co-reactant comprise an end-group selected from aldehyde, anhydride, amine, ethyne and sulfide. When the reactant comprising the organic monomer is pyromellitic dianhydride, then the co-reactant comprising the organic monomer is phenylene diamine. When the reactant comprises the organic monomer is phenylene diamine, then the co-reactant comprising the organic monomer is phenylene dialdehyde.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Method: The step of pulsing vapor-phase precursor and pulsing vapor-phase reactant involves allowing the vapor-phase components to penetrate a bulk of the fiber-based substrate. The vapor-phase precursor is same or different for subsequent steps of pulsing the vapor-phase precursor; and the vapor-phase reactant is same or different for subsequent steps of pulsing the vapor-phase reactant. The desired surface modification produces a desired surface energy. The method (p1) additionally involves treating the fiber-based substrate with gamma -amino-propyltriethoxysilane (APTES); attaching a mini-polyethylene glycol (PEG) (9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-NH-(C2H5O)3-COOH) to the fiber-based substrate; and deprotecting the amino group at the end of the mini-PEG, where the amine-group functionalized surface of the desired density is achieved. In the method (p1) and (p2), the fiber-based substrate is non-woven polypropylene fabric, the precursor is trimethylaluminum (TMA), the inorganic component is Al3+ and the vapor-phase reactant is water. The step of providing a mold involves providing a mold comprising a micro- or nanostructure by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) processing. The method (p1) involves introducing the fiber-based substrate into a reaction chamber; pulsing a vapor-phase precursor comprising an inorganic component into the reaction chamber to create a partial atomic layer of the inorganic component on the fiber-based substrate and create a first by-product species; purging the reaction chamber to remove excess of the vapor-phase precursor and the first by-product species; pulsing a vapor-phase ammonia or other amine-containing species into the reaction chamber to complete the formation of an atomic layer of the desired material and create a second by-product species; purging the reaction chamber to remove excess of the vapor-phase ammonia and the second by-product species; and repeating the pulsing and purging steps until the amine-group functionalized surface of the desired density is achieved. The method (p2) involves introducing the fiber-based substrate into a reaction chamber; pulsing a vapor-phase precursor comprising an inorganic component into the reaction chamber to create a partial atomic layer of the inorganic component on the fiber-based substrate and create a first by-product species; purging the reaction chamber to remove excess of the vapor-phase precursor and the first by-product species; pulsing a vapor-phase reactant into the reaction chamber to complete the formation of an atomic layer of the desired material and create a second by-product species; purging the reaction chamber to remove excess of the vapor-phase reactant and the second by-product species; and repeating the pulsing and purging steps until the uniformly hydrophilic surface is achieved. The method (m1) involves introducing the substrate into a reaction chamber; pulsing a vapor-phase reactant comprising an organic monomer into the reaction chamber to create a partial atomic layer of the organic monomer on the fiber-based substrate and create a first by-product species; purging the reaction chamber to remove excess of the vapor-phase reactant and the first by-product species; pulsing a vapor-phase co-reactant comprising a complementary organic monomer into the reaction chamber to complete the formation of an atomic layer of the desired material and create a second by-product species; purging the reaction chamber to remove excess of the vapor-phase co-reactant and the second by-product species; and repeating the pulsing and purging steps until a desired polymer film is deposited. Preferred Components: The fiber-based substrate comprises natural and/or synthetic fibers. The fiber-based substrate is selected from cotton fiber, cotton fabric, woven cotton fabric, non-woven cotton fabric, protein-based fiber, polyvinyl alcohol fiber, polyvinyl alcohol fabric, woven polyvinyl alcohol fabric, non-woven polyvinyl alcohol fabric, polyolefin polymer fiber, polyolefin fabric, woven polyolefin fabric, non-woven polyolefin fabric, polyethylene terephthalate fiber, polyethylene terephthalate fabric, woven polyethylene terephthalate fabric, non-woven polyethylene terephthalate fabric, polyamide fiber, polyamide fabric, woven polyamide fabric, non-woven polyamide fabric, acrylic fiber, acrylic fabric, woven acrylic fabric, non-woven acrylic fabric, polycarbonate fiber, polycarbonate fabric, woven polycarbonate fabric, non-woven polycarbonate fabric, fluorocarbon fiber, fluorocarbon fabric, woven fluorocarbon fabric, non-woven fluorocarbon fabric, glass fiber, glass fabric, woven glass fiber, or non-woven glass fabric. When the fiber-based substrate is non-woven polypropylene fabric, the precursor is trimethylaluminum (TMA) and the inorganic component is Al3+, then the vapor-phase reactant is H2O. When the precursor is tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium (TDMAT) and the inorganic component is Ti2+, then the vapor-phase reactant is ammonia or H2O. The fiber-based substrate is a planar surface, or three-dimensional surface. The surface comprises a polymer based surface. The polymer-based surface is selected from polyimide, polyethersulfone, cellophane, polydimethylsiloxane, and polytetrafluoroehtylene. The thin film comprises a biocompatible material; and modifies the fiber-based substrate to have a desired surface energy. The thin film modifies the fiber-based substrate to be operable as a structure selected from photocatalyst, sensor material, catalytic mantle, active electronic and energy conversion device, fuel cell, target-selective nano and biomolecule filtration and separation structure, tissue engineering scaffold, and organic-based photovoltaic structure. The micro- or nanostructure is porous. The mold comprises a micro- or nanostructure comprises a microfluidic channel. The micro- or nanostructure formed comprises an Al2O3 based microfluidic structure. In the fabric (f1), the fiber-based substrate is treated with y-amino-propyltriethoxysilane (APTES); a mini-PEG (Fmoc-NH-(C2H5O)3-COOH) is attached to the fiber-based substrate; and the amino group at the end of the mini-PEG is deprotected. The fabric (f1) is a non-woven fabric comprising a bound affinity ligand. EXAMPLE - Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) films were grown on cotton fabric substrates in a hot-wall viscous-flow tube reactor at 75-200 degrees C. It was seen that at temperatures greater than 150 degrees C, the cotton substrates became visibly discolored and physically brittle after the deposition process. It was found that 100 degrees C was an ideal operating temperature in that damage to the substrates was limited while still allowing adequate deposition of the Al2O3. Trimethylaluminum (TMA) and deionized water were used as precursor and reactant, respectively, for the deposition of Al2O3. Reactant lines were heated to 60 degrees C in order to prevent condensation of the water reactant. Immediately before the deposition process, the substrates were placed in the reactor and heated in vacuum (5x 10-7 Torr) to 100 degrees C and allowed to equilibrate for 60 minutes. To begin deposition, the reactor was flushed with argon and ambient temperature vapors of TMA and water were separately introduced into the reactor in pulses of 1 and 2 seconds respectively, with a 20 second argon purge between each reactant exposure step. The TMA and water were carried into the reactor using argon flow, and the argon flow rate was constant at 100 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm). The operating pressure in the reaction chamber was fixed between 0.5 and 1 Torr. The films were tested by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), initially showed high growth rate of approximately 5 Angstrom per cycle followed by a decrease to approximately 3 Angstrom per cycle as growth proceeded. Static water contact angle measurements showed that a cotton fabric treated with 100 cycles of Al2O3 had a contact angle of 127 degrees , compared to a contact angle of 0 degrees for the untreated cotton.