AbstractHardness of a material describes the resistance of a material under indentation by a solid body. The vickers hardness [1] is determined by loading a diamond pyramid with a known force that is in contact with a specimen. The length of the diagonal of the remaining indent is used to calculate the contact area. The ratio of force and contact area is the vickers hardness. The abilities of modern technique of measurement replace the optical analysis of each indent by calculating the hardness from force and displacement recorded during the indent.Nano‐hardness measurements now can be used to determine the mechanical properties of thin films and structures in the range from less than 10 nm to 1μm. Hardness can be measured with very small indentations, which could not be analyzed according to vickers. Time dependent properties as creep and viscose flux of material can be checked on sub‐micron scale. The technique of nano‐hardness measurements is comparable to the universal hardness test [2] for metals, whose minimum indentation depth of h = 0.2 μm still is too big for many applications. Combined with an atomic force microscope (AFM) the presented technique is capable image the area of interest before and after testing. Mechanical properties like friction‐constants and wear can be measured quantitatively. The indenter can be used as a micro‐machining tool with high precis