A coating is provided to a substrate in a vacuum chamber having an electric arc evaporator to form an ion-plasma comprising accelerated ions and neutral atoms of evaporated metal. The substrate contained in the vacuum chamber is provided with a negative voltage bias such that the ion-plasma is drawn to the substrate and deposited on its surface to provide the coating. A pulsed negative voltage bias is maintained on the substrate such that the substrate temperature can be maintained within the range of zero to 200 DEG C.
