Abstract
Materials engineering is regarded as a key technology to integrate novel functionality into products and processes. Especially, surface science and functional interfaces via the so-called surface modification exhibit specific material characteristics. In this paper, popular nanocomposite and nanomultilayer hard coatings and their deposition methods will be focused. To aim at the target that sufficient hardness and toughness should simultaneously be present in coatings, appropriate testing methodology will also be introduced. It is believed that by precisely controlling the intrinsic properties, coating with specially desired functionality can be pursued in the near future.