Within the last years, several new application for optical coatings were found. To assist R&D activities in the development of new films and coating sources, combination of different analytical techniques is required: spectraphotometry measures reflectance, transmittance and absorbance. Spectroscopic ellipsometry is applied to determine optical constants n(lambda) and k(lambda). For high absorbing TiN and TiON films for CRT display applications, these constants were evaluated by combination of photometry and ellipsometry. Spectroscopic ellipsometry is introduced in quality control of ITO films for flat panel displays. Differences of the optical constants indicate enhanced failure rate of the complete display systems. With X-ray photon spectrometry (XPS) depth profiling and electron microprobe (EMP) analysis, Na-diffusion from the glass substrates into the films is found to be a source of the failures. Additionally, AFM is applied to monitor film structures and measure surface roughness.