The Effect of Formation of Titanium Nitride Thin Film on Surface Characteristics of Titanium by Nitrogen Ion Implantation

Titanium is used widely for applications that involve low weight and require suitable mechanical, biomedical and other desirable properties. In this paper, the effect of nitrogen ion implantation on surface structure and resistance against titanium corrosion and achievement of the best conditions for titanium nitride formation is investigated. For these experiments nitrogen ions with an energy of 30 keV and doses of 1 × 1018 to 5 × 1018 ion cm−2 were used. X-ray diffraction was performed for metallic analysis and investigation of new structures created by nitrogen ion implantation. Roughness variations before and after implantation were observed by atomic force microscopy. Corrosion analysis apparatus is used for comparison of resistance against titanium corrosion before and after ion implantation. Results show that nitrogen ion implantation has a substantial effect on resistance improvement against titanium corrosion. The surface morphology of the samples after corrosion testing is investigated using scanning electron microscopy. It is shown that the more important factor will control the final corrosion speed. In doses lower than 2×1018 ion cm−2, the roughness effect is most important, and in higher does, TiN phase formation is dominant.