Abstract: The invention relates to the production of wear-resistant layers which are exposed to friction wear on surfaces of components of internal combustion engines. In the process, wear-resistant layers are formed on the respective surface by electric arc discharge under vacuum conditions. The wear-resistant layers are formed from at least approximately hydrogen-free tetrahedrally amorphous (ta-C) comprising a mixture of sp2 and sp3 hybridized carbon and have a microhardness of at least 3500 HV and an arithmetical mean roughness value Ra of 0.1 ?m without a mechanical, physical and/or chemical surface processing taking place.