Titanium nitride is a hard, dense, refractory material with unusually high electrical conductivity.
TiN has unusual optical properties, including an attractive gold-tinged appearance when pure, and high infrared transmission. It is used as an inorganic antireflective coating for lithography on top of aluminum metal, and as a coating for window glass and for decorative applications. TiN is also used as a hard coating for machine tools, turbine blades, and other metallic surfaces. CVD Precursors and Techniques TiN is most commonly deposited by sputtering, often from a titanium metal target in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere. Sputtered barrier layers are particularly thin at the bottom corners of via holes, and failure may occur at this point.