Au/NiCr/Ta multi-layers were deposited on Al2O3 substrate by magnetron sputtering and plating. The effect of plating technique on magnetron sputtering film in residual stress, crystal orientation and scratch resistance behavior was investigated. The all magnetron sputtering and plating films were highly textured with dominant Au-(111) orientation or a mixture of Au-(111) and Au-(200) orientation and the (111)/(200) intensity ratio were increased after plating. The residual stress in magnetron sputtering films at different substrate temperature was tensile stress with 155-400 MPa and it decreased approximately to 50 MPa after plating. The scratch resistance could be affected by the film thickness, and it increased approximately linearly with the increase of the thickness of metallic films after plating. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.