Oxide coating foundation for promoting TBC adherence

A coating system for a turbine engine component, said coating system comprises a substrate, a masking layer on a surface of the substrate, said masking layer comprising a homogeneous layer of a single metal, a non-thermally grown oxide layer deposited on and in contact with the masking layer, said non-thermally grown oxide layer comprising one of alumina and titania, and a thermal barrier coating deposited on said oxide layer, wherein said masking layer comprises a layer of pure aluminum.