[en] Novel multilayer coatings with metallic and covalent layer materials were prepared by magnetron sputtering and characterised concerning structure, properties and application behaviour. At first single layer coatings were deposited for the determination of the material properties. To evaluate relations between structure and properties of the multilayer coatings, different multilayer concepts were realised: - coatings consisting of at most 7 layers of metallic hard materials, - 100-layer coatings consisting of metallic and covalent hard materials, - TiN-TiC multilayer coatings with different numbers of layers (between 10 and 1000), - 150-layer coatings, based on TiN-TiC multilayers, with thin (<10 nm) intermediate layers consisting of covalent hard materials (BN, B₄C, AlN, SiC, a:C, Si₃N₄, SiAlON). X-rays and electron microscopic analysis indicate in spite of nonstoichiometric compositions single phase crystalline structures for nonreactively and reactively sputtered metastable single layer Ti(B,C)-, Ti(B,N)- and Ti(B,C,N)-coatings. These single layer coatings show excellent mechanical properties (e.g. hardness values up to 6000 HV0,05), caused by lattice stresses as well as by atomic bonding conditions similar to those in c:BN and B₄C. The good tribological properties shown in pin-on-disk-tests can be attributed to the very high hardness of the coatings. The coatings consisting of at most 7 layers of metallic hard materials show good results mainly for the cutting of steel Ck45, due to the improved mechanical properties (e.g. hardness, toughness) of the multilayers compared to the single layer coatings. This improvement is caused by inserting the hard layer materials and the coherent reinforcement of the coatings. (orig.)