The mechanical properties of electrolyte and anode represent the characteristic of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The micro-scale film/substrate structure makes it difficult to measure the hardness and elastic modulus. In this work, a modified work of indentation method is proposed to determine the hardness and elastic modulus, and nanoindentation test is carried out for the half-cell structure of SOFCs (before and after reduction). The final large range of hardness from the proposed method is shown to be well agreement with the values determined by Oliver Pharr method. Because NiO-YSZ reduces to Ni-YSZ, the hardness of substrate is decreased by 48%, elastic modulus is decreased by 34.4%, respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.