  We conduct a comprehensive set of tests of performance of surface coils used
for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study of quasi 2-dimensional samples. We
report ${^{115} \rm{In}}$ and ${^{31} \rm{P}}$ NMR measurements on InP,
semi-conducting thin substrate samples. Surface coils of both zig-zag
meander-line and concentric spiral geometries were used. We compare reception
sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of NMR signal obtained by using
surface-type coils to that obtained by standard solenoid-type coils. As
expected, we find that surface-type coils provide better sensitivity for NMR
study of thin films samples. Moreover, we compare the reception sensitivity of
different types of the surface coils. We identify the optimal geometry of the
surface coils for a given application and/or direction of the applied magnetic
field.
