The present invention relates to a method for diamond coating of substrates in which the substrate is exposed in a vacuum atmosphere to a reactive gas mixture excited by means of a plasma discharge, the plasma discharge comprising a plasma beam (14) in an evacuated receiver (16) that is formed between a cathode chamber (1) and an anode (2), and the reactive gas mixture comprising a reactive gas and a working gas, the reactive gas in (9) and the working gas in (8) and/or (9) introduced into the receiver, and the receiver (16) is evacuated by a pump arrangement (15), and the hydrogen concentration of the reactive gas mixture being 0–45 vol. %.