The results of studies of the structure and phase composition of thick chromium coatings on the surface of the steel obtained by vacuum-arc deposition (arc-PVD) in an arc discharge and modified with nitrogen are presented. The modification is carried out directly in the process of vacuum-arc deposition in an argon-gas environment containing nitrogen. The features of the formation of the structure and phase composition of chromium coatings depending on the percentage of nitrogen in the chamber (from 20 to 100%) and the effect of the pulsed deposition mode at a fixed pressure value within the chamber ((3−7)·10⁻² Pa) and substrate temperature (520−550°C) are established. The analysis of the studies shows that chromium coatings obtained in a steady-state mode in an argon environment (without nitrogen) have an open texture: in the cross section, the structure is columnar and coarse-crystalline, has an explicit relief surface with the release of fairly large pyramidal crystallites and a small droplet phase. The use of a pulsed deposition mode in an argon environment weakens significantly the texture of the coating, ‘smooths’ the surface with the formation of a fine-crystalline, close to globular coating structure. The introduction of nitrogen into the argon-gas environment changes the structure and phase composition of the coatings. With an increase in the percentage of nitrogen within the chamber, the structure of the coating in the cross-section changes from columnar coarse-crystalline to globular fine-crystalline, the lattice parameter and the size of the coherent-scattering region decrease, and the dislocation density increases. The introduction of nitrogen into the argon-gas environment leads to the formation of the hexagonal close-packed phase Cr₂N and the face-centred cubic phase CrN, the amounts of which depend on the deposition parameters. The use of a pulsed deposition mode, when modifying the coating with nitrogen, allows increasing the amount of nitrides in the coating compared to the steady-state mode.