The deformation surrounding Vickers indentations on InGaAsP/InP epilayers have been studied in detail. The surface topography was characterized by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The material pile-up and sink-in regions around the indentation impression was observed for the quaternary InGaAsP/InP epilayers. The sectional analysis mode of the AFM shows the depth profile at the indented region. Microindentation studies were carried out for different atomic fraction of the quaternary InGaAsP/InP compound semiconductor alloys. The microhardness values of InGaAsP/InP epilayers were found to be in the range of 5.08 and 5.73 GPa. These results show that the hardness value of the quaternary alloy drastically increases as the composition of As was increased by 0.01 atomic fraction and when the phosphorous concentration decreases from 0.4 to 0.38. The reason may be that the increase in As concentration hardens the lattice when phosphorous concentration was less and hardness decreases when phosphorous was increased. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.