Alumina thin films were deposited onto tempered hot working steel substrates from an AlCl3-O-2-Ar-H-2 gas mixture by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition. The normalized ion flux was varied during deposition through changes in precursor content while keeping the cathode voltage and the total pressure constant. As the precursor content in the total gas mixture was increased from 0.8% to 5.8%, the deposition rate increased 12-fold, while the normalized ion flux decreased by approximately 90%. The constitution, morphology, impurity incorporation, and the elastic properties of the alumina thin films were found to depend on the normalized ion flux. These changes in structure, composition, and properties induced by normalized ion flux may be understood by considering mechanisms related to surface and bulk diffusion. (c) 2007 American Vacuum Society.