Use of commercial grade ferritic steel interconnects in solid oxide fuel cells leads to problems of high resistance and chromium poisoning of the cathode during operation between 750-800°C. To avoid this problem, a novel method of applying coatings for interconnect protection has been tried. Copper and iron films have been deposited sequentially on the surface of a ferritic steel (UNS-430), which upon heat treatment in air at 750-775°C form an adherent coating of CuFe2C4 spinel phase. Electrical and microstructural characterization of spinel-coated steel samples have been carried out. The area specific resistivity (ASR) value of a 15 μm CuFe 2O4-coated sample was found to be as low as 0.025 Ω.cm2.