Synthesis and characterization of sputtered titanium nitride as a nucleation layer for novel neural electrode coatings

•The (111) orientation only forms within a narrow band with (200) more dominant elsewhere.•Nitrogen atoms were found to deplete with low Ar flow rate (10sccm).•Resistivity was found to increase at low Ar flow rate.•A resistivity value of 228μΩcm was achieved..•The highest capacitance value was 0.416mF/cm2.•TiN thin film can be tuned structurally and electrochemically to be well suited for the growth of TiN nanowires.