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Recent results suggest that TiN coatings deposited by pulsed magnetron sputtering (PMS) can have significantly enhanced tribological properties, in particular, significantly lower coefficients of friction, in comparison with films deposited by continuous DC processing. This improvement has been attributed to a densification of the film structure and a reduction in film roughness. In this study coatings were deposited under varying conditions of pulse frequency, duty cycle and substrate bias. The structural properties of the coatings were investigated by SEM and XRD, whilst the physical and tribological properties were determined using scratch adhesion testing, thrust washer wear testing and hardness testing. In addition, batches of 6.35 mm diameter HSS twist drills were also coated by PMS and continuous DC processing. The performance of these drills was assessed in tool life tests, in which holes were repeated cut in M200 steel. The results showed that TiN coatings produced by pulsed processing outperformed, in terms of average tool life, those produced by continuous processing by a factor of 2.6 and also outperformed tools coated by low-voltage electron beam evaporation by a factor of 1.57.