The TiN/Ti multilayers were prepared by balanced magnetron sputtering with a concentric electromagnet coil around the magnetron in order to produce a variable unbalance of the magnetron, and in this way provide changes in the ion bombardment of the substrate. It was observed that the additional magnetic field increased the plasma temperature as well as altering the other plasma characteristics. The field induced changes in the ion bombardment of the substrate and was found to modify the film microstructure. In this work multiple TiN/Ti layers on H13 steel substrates were prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering, with the aim of improving the corrosion resistance. The ion current density incident on the substrate and the plasma parameters, such as, the electron temperature, plasma density, floating potential and plasma potential were studied as a function of the additional magnetic field. The corrosion resistance of these layers was studied by means of potentiodynamic polarisations in a 0.5 M NaCl solution. The composition of the films was determined by ion beam techniques. We report the results of studies of the influence of magnetic field on the plasma parameters and on the improvement of the corrosion resistance of TiN/Ti multilayers. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.