The depth-sensing indentation method has been applied for almost 30 years. In this review, a survey of several extended applications developed during the last three decades is provided. In depth-sensing indentation measurements, the load and penetration depth data are detected as a function of time, in most cases at controlled loading rates. Therefore, beside the determination of hardness and Young’s modulus, different deformation mechanisms and many other dynamic characteristics and phenomena, such as the dynamic elastic modulus, load-induced phase transition, strain rate sensitivity, etc. can be studied. These extended applications of depth-sensing indentation measurements are briefly described and reviewed.

In a single process run, an amorphous silicon oxynitride layer was grown, which includes the entire transition from oxide to nitride. The variation of the optical properties and the thickness of the layer was characterized by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) measurements, while the elemental composition was investigated by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). It was revealed that the refractive index of the layer at 632.8 nm is tunable in the 1.48–1.89 range by varying the oxygen partial pressure in the chamber. From the data of the composition of the layer, the typical physical parameters of the process were determined by applying the Berg model valid for reactive sputtering. In our modelling, a new approach was introduced, where the metallic Si target sputtered with a uniform nitrogen and variable oxygen gas flow was considered as an oxygen gas-sputtered SiN target. The layer growth method used in the present work and the revealed correlations between sputtering parameters, layer composition and refractive index, enable both the achievement of the desired optical properties of silicon oxynitride layers and the production of thin films with gradient refractive index for technology applications.

LaF₃:Yb,Tm upconverting nanoparticles with overall dopant concentrations below 7 mol% were prepared by a low-cost, aqueous phase co-precipitation method having reasonably high emission intensity, aiming at e.g. anti-counterfeiting applications.