Thin films of CrNx with different nitrogen contents are deposited on 316L stainless steel (SS316L) as bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) by arc ion plating (AIP) through adjusting nitrogen gas flow rate. The optimal N-2 flow rate and resultant N content in CrNx films are determined by evaluating the interfacial contact resistance (ICR) between carbon papers and the coated samples, and the corrosion resistance in the simulated PEMFC conditions. After coating CrNx films, the performance of SS316L bipolar plates is obviously improved, and has a close relationship with N content in the CrNx films. Compared with the bare SS316L, the CrNx coated SS316L exhibits a reduced ICR by one order of magnitude and the corrosion resistance increases by two orders of magnitude. The results show that CrN0.86 film coated SS316L bipolar plates present best performance, i.e. the ICR of CrN0.86 film coated sample reduces to 8.8 m Omega cm(2) under 1.0 MPa compaction pressure, and the corrosion current density almost reaches 10(-7) A cm(-2). The analysis indicates that the enhanced performance of the coated SS316L bipolar plates is related to the high film density determined by AIP, and the variation of phase structure and film composition. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.