In the present thesis complex gradients of microstructure and residual stresses of CrN thin films are evaluated. For that a CrN coating was deposited by magnetron sputtering on a steel substrate applying a bias voltage of -40, -120 and -40 V for every 5 µm sublayer. The motivation of this thesis is the possibility to determine local texture, residual stress and crystallite size at the cross section of 15 µm thick CrN nanocristalline coating. On the ID 13 Microfocus Beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, the coating was characterized using cross-section scanning wide-angle X-ray diffraction performed in transmission geometry with a 100 nm focused beam. By evaluating Debye-Scherrer-rings collected at different coating depths, it was possible to determine crystallographic texture of CrN crystallites across the coating. The analysis shows that the coating grows with a 001 orientation on the substrate. With further distance from the substrate the 001 orientation changes to 101 orientation. The changing of bias results in a mixed 001/101 texture. Towards the surface a 101 preferred orientation was observed. The entire coating exhibits comprehensive residual stresses which are pronounced especially in the region deposited with a bias voltage of -120 V. The crystallites form alters with increasing distance from the substrate from a spherical to a columnar shape. The new approach opens the possibility to map the structural properties of thin films on the submicron scale in compositionally graded nanostructures and provides a unique opportunity to correlate thin films performance and actual nanostructural design.