Effects of nickel interlayer on the property of CrN wear resisting coatings was investigated. The nickel interlayer was prepared with electroless plating to a thickness of 65 nm. CrN coatings were sputter deposited over the nickel interlayer. The coating crystal structures, microhardness, and scratch resistance were determined. Results showed that the nickel interlayer provides limited improvement in both the microhardness and scratch resistance. To enhance bonding of coatings, a rapid heat treatment of coated samples with infrared was performed. Infrared treated samples show significant improvement in scratch resistance. The nickel interlayer reduces the amount of scratch debris on CrN coatings. After infrared heat treatment, the scratch track was clean and showed significantly smaller amount of scratch debris than those without infrared treatment.