An ion-milling-based sample preparation is described, which reveals the morphology of nanocrystalline hard coatings. The method has been successfully used for columnar TiAlN and nanocomposite TiAlSiN single layers, as well as for TiAlN/TiAlSiN multilayer films. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of cross-sectioned samples prepared with our method give relevant insight about the packing of the nanograins and therefore about the growth kinetics. While the observations are also a simple alternative to transmission electron microscopy (TEM), they give essentially complementary information on density of grain (column) boundaries and the interlamellar growth in multilayer stacks. Because the sample preparation technique is composition-sensitive, it allows identification of the layer type in multilayer film stacks. This has been used for nanoindentation work on selected features like interlamellar boundaries, substrate/coating interfaces, grains with a particular composition and layers with thickness higher than 20 nm. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.