PVD techniques can contribute to produce supersaturated precipitation free and microcrystalline magnesium layers. IBSD results in a MgTi26 alloy (Ti content in wt.‐%) synthesized with Ti still in solid solution while a phase segregation was observed for MgTi59. In contrast, increasing the average particle energy during the deposition by supplying the Ti from a cathodic arc leads to a single phase MgTi63 compound. Corrosion potentials between −875 and −490 mV and corrosion rates between 200 and 2 µm · year−1 were observed with increasing titanium content. Addition of aluminium could further improve the corrosion resistance.