Controlling the performance of structures and components of all sizes and shapes through the use of engineered coatings has long been a key strategy in materials processing and technological design. The ever-increasing sophistication of en- neered coatings and the rapid trend toward producing increasingly smaller devices with greater demands on their fabrication, properties and performance have led to signi?cant progress in the science and technology of coatings, particularly in the last decade or two. Nanostructured coatings constitute a major area of sci- ti?c exploration and technological...