We present an atomic force microscope study of nanoscopic sliding friction on diamond, diamond-like carbon, and on three CrN thin films with varying hardness obtained by different growth temperatures. For the CrN films, we show that the changes in the friction coefficient can be traced back to variations of the Young modulus. More generally, we show for all samples investigated and in wearless regime, that the nanoscopic friction coefficient is directly linked to the Young modulus. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.