Microstructure and surface properties of silver by nitrogen ion implantation

Ion implantation technique is a well-known technique to improve physical properties of metals and semiconductors. In the last two decades ion implantation has been used to produce new structural properties in the near surface region of metals. In this paper the effect of nitrogen ion implantation at the energy of 50 keV and doses in the range between 1e17 to 2e18 ions/cm$^{2}$ on silver substrate has been discussed. XRD analysis was used to characterize microstructure of implanted layer. The XRD results confirmed that by such implantation AgN$_{3}$ has been produced. AgN$_{3}$ with orthorhombic structure was formed on silver surface with cubic structure. RMS roughness of implanted samples have been obtained using AFM analysis and compared with un-implanted sample. By increasing the ion dose more than 1e17 ions/cm$^{2}$ RMS roughness increases while it finally drops due to sputtering effect at highest dose. Micro-hardness properties of implanted samples measured by Vickers test. The results show that by increasing the ion dose up to 1e18 ions/cm$^{2}$ hardness enhances. Finally, reflection changes at the UV-Vis-NIR region measured by diffuse reflectance accessory of a spectrophotometer.