COATING ON METALLIC SAMPLES PRODUCED BY A SMALL ENERGY PLASMA-FOCUS

A surface treatment of metallic samples irradiated by a nitrogen ion b eam generated in a co-axial plasma gun is presented. By placing a tita nium insert at the end of the inner electrode of the device, a TiN coa ting was produced on the surface of the sample. X-ray diffraction, sca nning electron microscopy, electron probe x-ray micro-analysis and x-r ay photoelectron speectroscopy were employed to study the surface of t he treated sample. It was found that the main role of the ion beam was to produce a strong pre-heating of the superficial layers of the subs trate, thus favouring the diffusion of the impinging particles.