An oscillating indentation load was applied to delaminate a diamond-like-carbon film from a silicon substrate. After delamination occurred, a two-stage behavior was exhibited in the load-depth results; then, a three-stage behavior was exhibited after buckling occurred due to a long enough delamination length. After removing the indentation load, the debonding film was single-buckled and suspended over the substrate; thus, the delamination length was obtained via the residual profile. Through analysis of the deflection of the buckled film, the buckling strain energy release rate was evaluated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.