TiN/AlN bilayers and multilayers were deposited on (100) silicon substrates using reactive magnetron sputtering technique. These combined coatings are known to possess high hardness and wear resistance, hence, their structural and mechanical properties were investigated. X-Ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry and nanoindenter measurements were applied to characterise the films. The bilayer hardness increases with the individual layer thickness ratio approaching unity and further enhancement was obtained in the multilayers. The enhanced hardness seems to be related to a dislocation blocking effect at the interfaces which is promoted by the hexagonal (002) and cubic (I 11) textures found in AlN and TiN layers, respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.