In this paper the effect of surface properties of micromolds on replication process was investigated by using nitrogen (N) and nickel (Ni) doped diamond-like carbon (N DLC Ni) coated and uncoated silicon (Si) micromolds Hot embossing is one of the most popular replication technologies for low cost and mass production However higher friction and adhesion in hot-embossing process can shot ten the lifetime of micromolds In the micro-hot-embossing process used for this study, the N DLC Ni coatings on the Si micromolds successfully increased the lifetime of the micromolds by 3-18 times The N DLC Ni coatings were deposited on the Si micromolds by magnetron co-sputtering at various Ni target powers The surface and tribological properties of the molds such as bonding structure, surface roughness, surface energy, adhesive strength, friction coefficient and wear resistance were characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle measurement, micro-scratch test and ball-on-disk sliding test, respectively (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved