ABSTRACT
Ion-plated hard coatings offer wide industrial applications due to their excellent characteristics. However, their service life is greatly influenced by the adhesion of the deposited coating to the substrate [1, 2]. It is well-known that, among other things, the adhesion of a coating to a substrate depends especially on the microstructure of the interface region. Thus, many efforts have been made to alter the interface structure, for example, by introducing rare-earth elements into the coating, or by the use of a nitriding layer as an intermediate layer.
