The film properties of single layers of Ti and TiN and bilayer Ti/TiN film stacks sputtered with and without a collimator on SiO2 substrates were studied and compared by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, Auger electron spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry with both glancing angle and theta-2 theta coupled diffraction techniques, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy of both cross section and plan view, and atomic force microscopy. The properties investigated include color, stoichiometry, density, electrical resistivity, grain and grain boundary structure, preferred orientation (texture), stress, surface morphology (roughness), reflectance, and impurity level. It was found that the density was higher, the surface morphology was less rough, and the electrical resistivity was lower for the collimated films than for the uncollimated films. The lower density and rougher surface of the uncollimated films are caused by shadowing effects.