TiAlN hard coatings are extensively used as protective coatings on forming and cutting tools due to their high hardness at elevated temperatures and good wear resistance. Nevertheless, further research is necessary to further optimize these coatings with respect to their properties in order to develop new fields of application. The objective of the present thesis was to investigate the effect of different target grain sizes on the properties of Ti1-xAlxN coatings, produced by reactive sputter deposition. Therefore, several coatings have been synthesized from three different grades of powder metallurgical produced Ti0.5Al0.5 targets using nitrogen partial pressures from 0-100%. The axial and angular-dependent sputter flux effects of the different target grain sizes on the resulting Ti1-xAlxN coatings were evaluated by varying the substrate position above the targets. The individually prepared coatings were investigated with respect to their chemical composition, structure and mechanical properties. After selected depositon runs, the targets themselves were investigated in detail.