Scanning force microscope has been applied to investigate wear tracks
produced during friction coefficient measurements of hard steel ball a
gainst (111) silicon crystals implanted with Ar ions. Such treatment c
auses the stable and significant decrease in friction, despite the tot
al removal of implanted species from the wear track during friction. S
canning force microscope measurements of wear tracks topography suppor
ted the former hypothesis assuming the formation of post-implantation
dense microcracks structure and subsequent propagation of this structu
re into the bulk. Such process assures small size of wear particles an
d a low friction coefficient value. Additionally the microfriction for
ce measurement method was applied to determine the friction coefficien
t of Si3N4 cantilever and a weal track in Si crystal.