Hydroxylapatite (HA) coatings were produced by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on biomorphic silicon carbide ceramics (Bio-SiC) by ablation of non-sintered HA discs with an ArF excimer laser (193 nm, 25 ns, 4.2 J cm(-2)) at different conditions of water vapour pressure and substrate temperature. The characterization of the coatings performed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques showed changes of the crystallinity of the coatings and the substitution of phosphate by carbonate groups in the HA structure, induced by the variations of the pressure and the substrate temperature. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.