The development of reliable HIPIMS power supplies has reached a satisfactory level. Furthermore conventional magnetron cathodes can be used in connection with HIPIMS power supplies. Therefore HIPIMS equipped PVD coating systems can be designed with sufficient reliability. Using HIPIMS cathodes furnished with high purity WC targets in vacuo substrate pre-treatment has been developed allowing the deposition of well adherent W-DLC and C-DLC coatings on steel substrates with only one interlayer namely HIPIMS deposited WC or HIPIMS and UBM simultaneously deposited WC. Sufficient adhesion (Rockwell adhesion class 1 -2) has been achieved for C-DLC coatings with hardness values up to HUpl 60 GPa. The process has been verified in commercial PVD equipment with large scale cathodes up to 1 m in length.CR2N and CrN have been deposited in a commercial multi-cathode PVD equipment using HIPIMS again. Both coatings show hardness values of HUpl >30 GPa. Cr2N seems to be superior in sliding wear applications whereas CrN dominates in case of abrasive wear. HIPIMS CrN outperforms UBM CrN and Arc CrN in both sliding and abrasive wear situations.