The effects of process parameters such as substrate temperature, degree of plasma activation and pulsed bias voltage on the structure and properties of Al 2 O 3 layers, deposited by electron beam (EB) evaporation at high deposition rates between 1.5 and 3 μm/min are presented. Layers deposited by reactive EB evaporation without plasma activation are amorphous to X-rays and have a porous columnar microstructure up to a substrate temperature of 700 o C. The hardness of these layers ranges between 2.5 and 8 GPa. A drastic improvement of the layer quality can be achieved by intense plasma activation during deposition process using a low voltage electron beam of a hollow cathode arc discharge (hollow cathode activated deposition; HAD process). Even at low substrate temperatures, dense amorphous layers with a hardness of 12 GPa could be deposited. At an enhanced substrate temperature of 700 o C the layers consist of the nanocrystalline γ phase with a grain size between 12 and 15 nm. The additional application of a pulsed bias voltage of 75 V results in the formation of a pronounced <110> fiber texture of columnar γ nanocrystallites with a lateral grain size between 30 and 40 nm. The development of the texture in the growth direction was investigated by cross-section TEM investigations. A further increase of bias voltage led to a line broadening of the X-ray diffraction reflexes, which can be interpreted by higher defect densities and lower grain size. The hardness of the dense, nanocrystalline γ Al 2 O 3 layers ranges between 20 and 22 GPa. Thus, the application of the process for the deposition of wear resistant layers for cutting tools can be taken into account.