Professors Ron Gilgenbach, Y.Y. Lau and their graduate student Bo Qi have developed a new technique for direct implantation of metal ions into substrate materials. This technique, Ablation Plasma Ion Implantation (APII), utilizes metal ions that are ablated by an excimer laser from a solid target. The advantage of this technique over existing plasma immersed ion implantation (PIII) methods is that it eliminates toxic gaseous precursors, that are required for metal ions. Ions can be generated from any solid material, even those that are extremely difficult to vaporize and ionize by conventional methods. It is hoped that this technique could lead to new, hardened coatings for automotive applications or be utilized in the semiconductor processing industry. This research is funded by the National Science Foundation and includes collaborators from Timken Research. Experimental results appear in the June 2001 issue of Applied Physics Letters.