ABSTRACT
Films and coatings are used in a legion of technologies for a variety of purposes, and irrespective of their intended function these must adhere satisfactorily to the underlying substrate. So the need for quantitative assessment of thin film or coating adhesion is quite patent. Many techniques for adhesion measurement of thin films and coatings [1,2] have been documented, and even a cursory look at the recent literature will show that there is a tremendous activity in this domain. This proceedings volume is a good testimonial to the brisk activity in the arena of adhesion measurement. Apropos, the difference between a film and coating is: A film is a thin coating and a coating is a thick film; it really is a matter of thickness. There is no universal agreement or standard on the upper limit of thickness of a thin film, but generally speaking thin films are of the order of 100 nm or even less. Many of the adhesion measurement techniques apply to both films and coatings, but some may be more specific to one or the other. In this paper, the terms film and coating will be used interchangeably.
