Coating method for depositing a layer system on a substrate and substrate having a layer system

1. A coating method for depositing a layer system formed from hard material layers on a substrate, comprising:

providing an evacuable process chamber having a cathodic arc evaporation source with an evaporation material and having a magnetron discharge source with a discharge material, wherein the magnetron discharge source is operable in a HIPIMS mode;

depositing at least one contact layer including the evaporation material on the surface of the substrate in a cathodic vacuum arc evaporation process only via the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation source;

after depositing the contact layer, depositing at least one intermediate layer in a form of a nanostructured mixed layer, including the evaporation material and the discharge material, by parallel operation of the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation source and of the magnetron discharge source, with the magnetron discharge source being operated in the HIPIMS mode; and

after depositing the at least one intermediate layer, depositing at least one top layer including the material only via the magnetron discharge source, with the magnetron discharge source being operated in the HIPIMS mode,

wherein, for depositing the at least one intermediate layer in the form of a nanostructured mixed layer, during which the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation source and of the magnetron discharge source operating in HIPIMS mode are operated in parallel, a coating pressure in a range from 0.5 Pa to 20 Pa is used.

2. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the depositing via the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation method the contact layer is formed as a nitride contact layer and/or the intermediate layer is formed as a nitride intermediate layer.

3. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the depositing via the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation method the contact layer is formed as a carbide contact layer and/or the intermediate layer is formed as a carbide intermediate layer.

4. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the depositing via the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation method the contact layer is formed as a boride contact layer and/or the intermediate layer is formed as a boride intermediate layer.

5. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the depositing via the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation method the contact layer is formed as an oxide contact layer and/or the intermediate layer is formed as an oxide intermediate layer.

6. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the depositing via the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation method the contact layer and/or the intermediate layer is formed as a Ti base layer, a Zr base layer, a WC base layer or as an AlTi base layer, a Cr base layer, a TiSi base layer or as an AlCr base layer.

7. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein on the coating via the magnetron discharge source the intermediate layer and/or the top layer is formed as a VMe nitride layer, where Me is a metal.

8. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein on the coating via the magnetron discharge source the intermediate layer and/or the top layer is formed as a VZrN layer by VZrN sputtering.

9. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein on the coating via the magnetron discharge source the intermediate layer and/or the top layer is formed as an MeSiBNCO layer, where Me is a metal.

10. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein on the coating via the magnetron discharge source the intermediate layer and/or the top layer is formed as an SiBNC layer by SiBNC sputtering, with SiBC in particular being formed in the composition Si=66 at %, B=20 at % and C=14 at % in the intermediate layer and/or the top layer.

11. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the magnetron discharge source is set on the sputtering in the HIPIMS mode for depositing the intermediate layer and/or for depositing the top layer, such that, in a pulse peak, at least one current density of 0.1 A/cm 2 is reached.

12. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the magnetron discharge source is set on the sputtering in the HIPIMS mode for depositing the intermediate layer and/or for depositing the top layer such that pulse lengths between 10 μs and 5000 μs and pulse breaks between 100 μs and 10,000 μs are reached.

13. The coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the magnetron discharge source is coated by the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation source with evaporation material.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the form of the nanostructured mixed layer comprises a form of a nanolayer intermediate layer in a hybrid phase or a nanocomposite layer.

15. The coating method in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the VZrN layer comprises VZr formed in a composition of V=98.5 at % and Zr=1.5 at % in at least one of the intermediate layer and the top layer.

16. The coating method in accordance with claim 11 , wherein, in the pulse peak, at least one current density of at least 0.3 A/cm 2 is reached.

17. The coating method in accordance with claim 12 , wherein a ratio of pulse length:pulse break is set in a range from 1:3 to 1:20.

18. A coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein, for depositing the at least one intermediate layer in the form of a nanostructured mixed layer, during which the coating pressure at which the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation source and of the magnetron discharge source operated in HIPIMS mode are operated in parallel, the coating pressure in a range from 1 Pa to 10 Pa is used.

19. the coating method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the coating pressure used for the parallel operation of the cathodic vacuum arc evaporation source and of the magnetron discharge source is about 6 Pa.