Driven by technological need and fueled by exciting possibilities, novel methods for applying coatings, improvements in existing methods and new applications have proliferated in recent years. Surface modification technologies have grown rapidly, both in terms of finding better solutions and in the number of technology variants available, to offer a wide range of quality and cost. The significant increase in the availability of coating process of wide ranging complexity that are capable of depositing a plethora of coatings and handling components of diverse geometry today, ensures that components of all imaginable shape and size can be coated economically. At the same time, the engineered surface can span at least five orders of magnitude in thickness and three orders of magnitude in hardness.