QUANTITATIVE DEPTH PROFILING OF NITROGEN-IMPLANTED TITANIUM BY USE OF AUGER-ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY AND SUBSEQUENT TARGET FACTOR-ANALYSIS

Titanium samples were implanted with N+ and N2+ ions of an energy of 80 keV and an ion dose between 10(17) and 10(18) atoms cm-2, which led to near-surface nitrogen-containing coatings. Auger depth profiles were taken from these coatings and the gathered data were subjected to target factor analysis. As a main result, three components could be detected and assigned to metallic Ti, TiN and a hitherto unknown Ti/N component, the atomic concentration ratio of which was estimated to be Ti : N almost-equal-to 1 : 1.15. Thereby, the atomic concentration depth profiles could be calculated, resulting in the stoichiometry of titanium nitride at an implantation dose from 5 x 10(17) N+ cm-2 upwards. A relationship between the ion implantation dose and the wear resistance of the coatings could not be corroborated by the measurements.