Hydroxylapatite (Ca-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2)) is a calcium phosphate used as a coating for dental and orthopaedical implants, because its composition and structure is similar to the mineral part of bone. As an alternative to the traditional plasma spray coating technique, pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been applied. A hydroxylapatite target was ablated with an ArF laser in a water vapor pressure of 45 Pa to investigate the transport of the ablated material to the substrate. The substrate was placed at different distances from the target, inside and outside the plume, The distribution of coating thickness was measured by profilometry. The Ca/P ratio of the coatings was measured by EDAX, whereas their OH- and CO32= content was evaluated by FT-LR spectroscopy. Inside the plume the thickness distributions correspond to an adiabatic expansion, while outside there is a diffusion of the species through the water vapor atmosphere to the substrate. The composition of the coatings also confirms this behavior. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.