Five nanostructured Cr2N/Cu multilayer coatings were deposited by a bipolar asymmetric reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering system, and various bilayer periods (A) were achieved by controlling the holding time of Si substrates in the plasma of Cr or Cu. The hardness and elastic modulus of multilayer coatings were investigated by means of a nanoindenter. Nano-scratch and nano machining experiments on multilayered coatings were conducted using atomic force microscopy (AFM) in air and DI-water, respectively. According to the groove depth, width, and coefficient of friction (COF) obtained from nano-scratch tests, influences of scratch cycle numbers and bilayer periods on the scratchability of Cr2N/Cu multilayered thin films were examined. It was observed that after nano-scratch experiments in air and water, the COF values and the amount of removed material increased with increasing bilayer period. After nano-machining tests in air and water, different types of the cutting chip pile-ups were observed. In this work, the surface tribological properties and machinability of Cr2N/Cu multilayered thin films when using an AFM are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.