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• Simple structure of cube-textured conductive TiN by direct deposition on metal foil. • Ion pre-treatment enables cube texture of TiN directly on polycrystalline substrate. • Ion Beam Assisted Deposition for TiN films with in-plane texture spread of only 5.6°. Single crystal-like titanium nitride (TiN) by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method is a potential conductive and thermally-stable template for growing highly-oriented REBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x (RE = rare earth) superconductor tapes as well as optoelectronics on flexible metal substrates. Previously, amorphous seed layers such as Al 2 O 3 and Y 2 O 3 were necessary for the biaxially-textured film growth by IBAD. Such nonconductive seed layers prevent an electrically-conductive path between functional film and bottom metal substrate such as flexible, electro-polished Hastelloy (EPH). An approach of Argon ion (Ar+) pre-treatment of EPH surface, followed by roll-to-roll IBAD process has been developed for a simplified architecture of cube-textured TiN directly on flexible metal substrate. Strong cube-textured TiN films with out-of-plane texture spread of 1.8° and in-plane texture spread of 5.6° were obtained by IBAD technique on flexible Hastelloy substrate without any intervening layers; this provides a conductive template for functional layers. Also, the ion pretreatment step is easily achieved in an IBAD system which simplifies the fabrication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]