Protective coatings are designed to prevent substrate from corrosion, erosion, oxidation, scratch, and wear. A high performance thin and sometimes an ultra-thin film coating are used to protect or decorate a substrate for economic reasons and for conservation of precious and rare materials. Nanoscratch testing is an important technique for characterization of surface properties of these protective and decorative coatings. Knowing the characteristics of a coating in the aspects of scratch resistance and interfacial adhesion can aid the development of coating material with desired performance, functionality and lifetime.