Titanium nitride (TiN) films on various substrates (Si, 1000 Angstrom of oxide on Si, and Al) were characterized using spectrophotometry, beam-profile reflectometry (BPR), beam-profile ellipsometry (BPE) and spectroscopic beam-profile ellipsometry (SBPE). For the TIN film on Si or on oxide, the combination of BPR and BPE is found to be the most effective measurement recipe. However, for the TiN film on Al, spectrophotometry is recommended due to large scattering at the Al grain boundaries. Visible-range SBPE adds some information but not enough to warrant its use in production. Surface roughness on the TiN films was treated as a mixture of voids and TIN by using the Bruggeman affective medium approximation. A comparative study of cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and optical characterization shows excellent agreement.