An intravascular stent (26) has a surface coated with a biocompatible
layer. The layer contains a diamond like nanocomposite material. This
nanocomposite material comprises carbon, hydrogen, silicon and oxygen as
constituent elements. The layer has a stress which is less than 150 MPa
in order to ensure a high degree of flexibility and a complete
expandability. This lower stress is obtained by the inclusion of
relatively large amounts of Si:O bonds. In a preferable embodiment the
layer with diamond like nanocomposite material covers the stent (26) for
100%. This is obtained by allowing the stent to move freely along a wire
during CAVD deposition.