Surface modification of aluminum and chromium by ion implantation of nitrogen with a high current density ion implanter and plasma-source ion implantation

Results of ion implantation of nitrogen into electrodeposited hard chromium and pure aluminum by a high-dose ion-beam source are presented and compared to plasma-source ion implantation. The large-area, high current density ion-beam source can be characterized, with respect to surface modification use, by a uniform emitted dose rate in the range of 10(16) to 5 x 10(17) N cm(-2) min(-1) over an area of <100 cm(2) and with acceleration energies of 10-50 keV. The implantation range and retained dose (measured using ion-beam analysis), the surface hardness, coefficient of friction, and the change in the wear coefficient (measured by nanohardness indentation and pin-on-disk wear testing) that were obtained with an applied dose rate of similar to 1.7 x 10(17) N cm(-2) min(-1) at 25 kV are given, and they are compared to results obtained with plasma-source ion implantation.