The addition of copper and nickel to deposited TiN coatings up to contents of 10–11 and 12–13 at.%, respectively, reduces the crystal- lite size of the nitride phase from 100–120 to 15–18 nm. The colum- nar structure is replaced with an equiaxial granular structure. At these concentrations, the metallic phase in metal–ceramic coatings is X-ray amorphous. Nickel and copper contents higher than these values cause pore formation in the deposited layers and simulta- neous formation of TiNi intermetallic phase in TiN–Ni coatings.