Surface Nitridation of Amorphous Carbon by Nitrogen Ion Beam Irradiation

Amorphous carbon was irradiated with a nitrogen ion beam and changes in composition and tribological properties after surface nitridation have been studied. The nitrogen ion beam energy was varied from 0.1 to 2.0 keV under the constant ion current density. Composition and chemical bonding states near the surface were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Tribological properties were studied by a pin-on-disk type tribotester. XPS studies show that the nitrogen concentration near the surface increases after nitrogen ion irradiation. The depth profiles of nitrogen in the irradiated specimens display that the nitrogen concentration near the surface is maximized after 0.2 to 0.7 keV ion irradiation. From the pin-on-disk testing, it is found that the friction coefficient of amorphous carbon increases after irradiation by 1.5 keV nitrogen ions, while the friction coefficient does not change drastically after irradiation by 0.2 keV ions.